


Casuistry

by imaginaryinspiration



Series: Looking into the eyes of a megalomaniac [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Ace-spec, Alola-chihou | Alola Region (Pokemon), Asexual Character, Aura (Pokemon), Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Manipulation, Gaslighting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, MINOR Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Mental Breakdown, Panic Attacks, Papa Kukui, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum Has Aura Powers, Trauma, mama burnet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 109,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27751315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginaryinspiration/pseuds/imaginaryinspiration
Summary: Lusamine's smile, glued on— like when he forced a smile when he secretly wanted to cry, except she was hiding something much more bitter inside than just repressed fear and bad memories. Her voice, though smooth and dripping with syrupy sweetness (sticky and thick and nauseating), was as grating on his ears as nails dragging long and hard down a chalkboard, sending chills up and down his spine.She was too sweet, cloying, like when copious amounts of perfume were added to hide a foul smell, choking the air around him.Ash hadn't been truly scared of someone in a long time. Lusamine...she was terrifying.
Relationships: Burnet-hakase | Professor Burnet/Kukui-hakase | Professor Kukui, Kukui-hakase | Professor Kukui & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Lilie | Lillie & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Satoshi no Pikachu | Ash Ketchum's Pikachu
Series: Looking into the eyes of a megalomaniac [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009671
Comments: 315
Kudos: 344





	1. Dissonance

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Sophistry](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19742749) by [circhester](https://archiveofourown.org/users/circhester/pseuds/circhester). 



> this takes heavy inspiration from Sophistry by circhester, especially the first chapter, and I have to commend circhester on their absolutely fantastic work and command over their language. your story had fantastic characterization— especially for something so short—and I have everything to thank you for.
> 
> A couple lines are taken directly from it-- because they gave me chills and are absolutely amazing. Please y'all, if you like this, go read Sophistry :)
> 
> I hope you guys like this!

Right before he stepped foot in Aether Paradise for the first time, there was suddenly something _wrong._ He didn’t know what or why, just that something unpleasant and warning bubbled in his gut and there was a soft urgency to the aura in his chest, pulling him away. It felt just a little like the feeling he’d gotten after talking to Lysandre for the first time— something vaguely _off._

It was faint enough, that, if he hadn’t really been paying attention, he might not have noticed. It was faint enough for him to, instead, squeeze Lillie’s hand for comfort and look at the smile in Nebby’s eyes and dismiss it just like that.

Maybe he shouldn’t have.

He pushed past the unpleasantness in his chest and put a smile on, ready to meet Lillie’s mom at her job and to see the fated Aether Paradise, with its high tech and futuristic design. He felt an ever-so-slight movement under his feet, the ocean underneath the artificial island rocking it. He took a deep breath and stepped inside.

The sheer size of the place amazed him. Even after everything he’d seen, he always kept himself open and took everything in for the first time with all the interest of a tourist in a new town- because he was, in a way.

Then he saw the people. 

Ash knew he liked science— that much was clear from traveling with Clemont, enthusiastically exclaiming his trademark line “Science is so amazing!” again and again as he watched with fascination his friend’s inventions, and how they indicated the genius that lay behind those glasses. Even when they inevitably failed and exploded, he stayed smiling and laughing good-naturedly. 

Ash liked science, but he didn’t always like _scientists._ Pokemon Professors were fine— Professor Oak, Professor Sycamore, Professor _Kukui—_ they were well-meaning and kind. But scientists who took their work too far, who were _too_ engaged, willing to go beyond the boundaries of ethics— mad scientists. Like Xerosic, with his falsetto laugh and creepy Malamar, who developed the Mega Evolution Energy. Xerosic with his delighted and pitiless gaze.

The scientists here gave him the same feeling.

It had always been harder for Ash to read the auras of humans compared to Pokemon— humans were more guarded and they had more to hide, more malicious thoughts and more of the social need to hide it. It was especially hard with those he didn’t know. His friends? Easy. Kind strangers? Easy.

Scientists? He couldn’t get much of a read. Reaching out his aura anyway, he tried to sense them and their motivations. Burnet’s was warm and loving, excited to see him, and caring. Wicke was cold, guarded. Faba was worse, greedy. Lusamine…

As soon as he stepped in, all eyes were on him. All eyes were on _Nebby,_ and he didn’t like the way they looked at the creature like it was a _prize._ The way they looked at Nebby was the same way criminals looked at the Pokemon they were going to steal. The way they looked at Nebby was the same way Hunter J looked at him right before he challenged her to a battle, when she’d wanted to _experiment_ with his aura. On that thought, the word _scientist_ suddenly gave him goosebumps. He unconsciously shifted his stance to be a defensive one, hands curling around Nebby tighter, protective. (Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that they were probably harmless. They’d done nothing so far to really show any sort of malice or evil intent. They were just scientists, same as the Professors he’d worked so hard to help. _Burnet_ was one of them, and if she was one of them, then they’d got to be fine, right? Ash knew they were probably well meaning, but he couldn’t shake the feeling. He knew it was probably his stupid memories that were getting in the way. He was _always_ willing to help, and he liked to think he was trusting and open. But he was more wary, now, after everything. Once bitten, twice shy, went the saying. What about bitten more times than he could count?)

He tried to relax, just a little bit, and not be so outwardly defensive. He wanted to make a good impression. He _didn’t_ want Lillie to worry. Pikachu already was, he could feel it in the way the little mouse gripped a little harder into his shoulders than normal. Did he feel the same anxiety Ash did about this…?

They exchanged greetings and Lusamine’s eyes, for a second, shifted to Lillie’s— just a second— before they turned back to Nebby and Ash. Barely a greeting to her own daughter. Ash tapped their shoulders together, trying to give her a little comfort while he was still on high alert.

Maybe he was _looking_ for something that would set him off, so he would have an excuse to run away.

He didn’t know how to feel about his sudden moment of self-awareness, but he didn’t care. Better safe than sorry.

Lusamine walked closer to Ash and Nebby and inquired about the little creature. He already felt off about her. But when she opened her mouth and immediately insinuated they were going to _take_ Nebby—!

“Wouldn’t it be better for us to take care of little Nebby?” she said, her voice nauseatingly sweet like syrup. “After all, we’re the adults here.”

Ash clenched his jaw tight and tried not to back away, tried to resist the urge to run out right then and there. She’d just given him the same feeling he’d felt right before he walked into Aether Paradise, warning bubbling in his gut and aura trying to pull him away— but it was stronger. It was something so unsettling and glaringly wrong that it raised his hackles immediately, and something so off, his mind screaming at him to _get out_. He wasn’t sure what _exactly_ it was. Maybe it was ever-so-slight emphasis placed on how _they_ were the adults— implying he was only a child, _ignoring_ that he’d traveled through 8 regions now, that he’d been an adult since he was ten, and that he was perfectly capable of taking Nebby.

Maybe it was the way her voice was so artificially saccharine, so full of honey and sugar that it spoke of something much more bitter—rotting, inside. Like an awful-tasting medicine trying to pretend it was sweet.

Maybe it was the way that just being around Lusamine caused an intense feeling of dissonance in his heart— the same visceral reaction he might have to an off-note in an otherwise pleasant piano piece. Maybe it was the way that Pikachu pressed closer to him, that he could feel more static than normal in the Pokemon’s fur, and that there an almost unnoticeable growl only he could hear. If _Pikachu_ could feel it too, then.

Her smile, glued on— like when he forced a smile when he secretly wanted to cry, except she was hiding something much more bitter inside than just repressed fear and bad memories. Her voice, though smooth and dripping with syrupy sweetness (sticky and thick and nauseating), was as grating on his ears as nails dragging long and hard down a chalkboard, sending chills up and down his spine.

She was _too_ sweet, cloying, like when copious amounts of perfume were added to hide a foul smell, choking the air around him.

Maybe it was that, while her sweet voice and her caring smile and body language were carefully showcased, exhibited, and controlled, her eyes were wild with chaos.

Her eyes were _just like Hunter J._

They pulled him into their chaotic depths, confusing and suffocating, until he was lost and desperate for air. They held such _darkness,_ even with a bright green iris seeming almost to _glow_ with desire.

Eyes are said to be the windows to the soul, but her eyes were so devoid of anything resembling _humanity_ that it was hard to believe she was anything but soulless.

Ash didn’t know anything about Lusamine, but he did know one thing—

“No,” he said, spite igniting in his own heart as he stared into Lusamine’s chaotic gaze.

— he knew that he did not trust Lusamine one bit.

At the command and finality in his words, her gaze flicked down to his clenched fists for a split second, eyes widening, before they returned to his steely opposition. And there, he saw the mask slip for the tiniest of moments, smile tightening, almost dropping, anger and impatience narrowing her eyes before she was back to the same pasted-on smile and chicanery.

He resisted, again, the urge to flinch back. The room had darkened, turned 10 degrees colder with the intensity in his voice and in her gaze. His ears were buzzing and his hands were hot. Her eyes again darted back to his fists before looking away.

Lusamine smiled, then, and _how could anyone think that was real, was he the only one who could see through her disguise?_ Clearing her throat, she started, “I must insist, Ash,” (and he _hated_ the way his name sounded in her cloying voice), “after all, we have the facilities here at Aether Paradise to _properly_ care for your little friend here—“

And he tried, he _tried,_ to keep the growl out of his voice, (but it didn’t matter anyway because Pikachu was showing enough hostility as it was, electricity sparking) “I _said no._ Solgaleo and Lunala trusted _me_ to take care of Nebby, and I’m going to take care of Nebby.”

He didn’t say it, but everyone heard it anyways. _Back off._

Lusamine stepped back, then, widening her smile even more to mask her quickly rising anger at his impertinence. The rest of the scientists looked awkward. Burnet glanced at Ash, just a little concerned, and he quickly took a deep breath to mask his own anger.

Lillie stepped in. “What he _means,_ Mother, is that he’s already friends with Nebby and that he wants to _stay_ that way! If he was trusted to take care of Nebby, he can do it! We can all be nice!”

There was a silent plea, there, and Ash heeded it. Lusamine’s smile dropped when she barely spared her daughter a glance. All the same, though, she did back down and that was that. Ash was going to keep Nebby (not that he wouldn’t have fought tooth and nail for the right to keep the little creature, anyways, had it come to that). Lusamine left and Wicke took them on a tour of Aether Paradise.

Ash felt himself relaxing as he and Lillie were led around, and he could feel Pikachu calming as well, which assured him. He was okay.

They ran into Lusamine again, and it was a second when he noticed her before she turned her eyes onto him. He watched. Lusamine stood there, looking for all the world like a well-meaning scientist— on the surface, at least—but when one looked closely enough, there was a certain way she carried herself, all tall and proud and confident, but with a contrasting hunch and the way her fingers clenched, twitched ever so slightly that almost suggested a greed underneath, one that wanted nothing but to grab and hold and keep. Her smile was nice, and seemed genuine, as though she knew the ways to make a smile look real— crinkle the eyes. But it was just the tiniest bit too wide, showing a little too much teeth, the same way a Pokemon might do so to show a warning— the same grimace Pikachu had been showcasing as a warning just moments ago. She was all smiles, but her smile was too tight around the cheeks. It was forced— but clearly practiced and well-rehearsed.

Her eyes turned on his, then, and before looking down to Nebby, lingered. Her eyes bored into his. Her eyes, deep and green, reminded him of acid rain, out to burn and disintegrate until there was nothing left but sizzling smolders.

He clenched his jaw and willed himself not to break the stare.

When did Lusamine get so _unnerving?_

Since when was he so _scared?_

-.-.-

Back when it had just been him, and Misty, and Brock, things had seemed much simpler. He’d been younger. He hadn’t had any encounters with legendaries yet (unless he was counting the rainbow bird he’d seen on that first day). There was no Chosen One, no deaths, no one after him, no aura, just him and Pikachu and Misty and Brock.

They’d been his first real friends. He’d had Gary when they were little, sure, but that was more or less thrown out of the window just a couple months before they turned trainers, and he’d settled for that. But then he met Misty (albeit under undesirable circumstances) when she pulled him out of the river, battered, beaten and half-drowned, with a dying Pokemon in his arms. He’d seen no choice but to steal her bike, and couldn’t even feel bad about it— until Pikachu had accidentally burnt it to a crisp. She’d been mad, and she’d followed him, and he’d been annoyed, but he realized pretty quick that even if she kept up the pretense of only following him because he destroyed her bike, they both knew they were becoming fast friends.

Then he’d met Brock, and Brock had been so kind- immediately taking the idiotic young Ash under his wing like they were brothers. He’d grown and matured the most with them by his side, that first year of traveling and training. (It was to be accounted that he _had_ the most growing and maturing to do that first year.) With Brock and Misty, he learned what friendship was. He’d been surprised, each time they did something he’d never realized friends were supposed to do. They’d become family, and it was in them that he found solace when missing home on the road.

It was that, then, even though he was young and they were new friends, that had caused him to notice something off in Misty before they went to Cerulean. It was easy to see she didn’t want to go there— that was clear, in her stark avoidance; of the place, of the topic. He’d dismissed it. But as they went closer and closer, she’d gotten angrier and angrier, and he’d been forced to pay attention. He hadn’t understood why.

They’d gotten to the city, and pulling her along was like trying to get a Meowth to go for a walk— frustrating and hard for both parties. And then she’d disappeared.

He’d been angry when he’d gotten to the gym. What was all this about performances!? Wasn’t this a gym? He wanted a gym battle! 

And the Sensational Sisters had wanted to just give him a badge. That wasn’t right! He didn’t see a way to get them to battle him, though, and he _needed_ to catch up to Gary, so he’d almost accepted it before Misty had barged in. She was really angry at the gym leaders. 

Did she know them?

He’d been confused by their arguing, and then a little mad on Misty’s behalf—arguing was _their_ thing! No one else should insult her like that! Sure, she was an annoying, confusing girl, but Pikachu liked her a lot and they were friends!

…they were family? Sisters?

They called her _runt._ That rose his hackles. He’d been called runt more times than he could count, being the shortest of his age in Pallet and those insults usually went along with something insulting his family and his _mother._

Misty was not a _runt._ She was annoying and weird and he got really frustrated with her a _lot_ but she was not a _runt._

And besides, there was something more than just anger, there. She was annoyed with her sisters, mad, of course, but there was something more. Something that made her never want to come back to Cerulean again in the first place. She’d had such a strong aversion to coming back. Misty’s body language, even when addressing the three teenagers, was pulling her as far away as she could without being noticed. There was a bitterness and depth to her- to her _fear,_ he realized with a jolt, beyond just the skin-deep shallow anger that she was quick to use as a mask.

_Fear?_

They hurled insult after insult at her, and he could see, now that he was watching, that they hurt her more than she cared to admit. She was shrinking in on herself, pulling more away, with every counter she interjected.

He’d like to say that he didn’t realize family could be so cruel, but, well.

Misty was almost in tears, but she was doing a really good job of hiding it. She had practice, he could tell. Practice hiding her tears from these girls who were supposed to be her _sisters_ but instead threw her aside like trash.

He could see Misty collect all her broken pieces before turning to face Ash (and he could see, also, that she had never wanted him to see this side of her.) She challenged him, instead, to a battle, and it was _fun,_ but she kept glancing off to the sidelines, and though he was intensely focused on the battle, he could hear the girls still talking trash about Misty.

They defeated Team Rocket and everything _seemed_ well and fine, and they said goodbye to the Sensational Sisters. Suddenly they were acting nice, but even back then it didn’t seem wholly genuine.

(Looking back on it now, he could see they were still angry at her— and more than that, their niceness was a complete facade, put on mainly for Brock. They didn’t want to get caught mistreating their sister around someone who was smart enough to say something about it. They didn’t want to get on the bad side of another gym leader, who could easily report them to the League for trying to give out badges. Looking back on it now, their fake smiles then reminded him a little bit of Lusamine…)

Then they were back on the road, and it was fine.

That night, Ash had been woken up by a noise. He blinked his eyes open, forcing himself more awake. For some reason, he felt like this wasn’t just something he should dismiss. He listened a little closer in, still staring at the stars, and—

…was that _crying?_

—it _was_ crying, awful sobs, and he could tell she was trying to be quiet, but he’d always had good hearing. And even through all of his ten-year-old denseness (although it continued on even when he wasn’t ten anymore) he knew that girls, while a whirlwind of confusing emotions and behaviors, did not cry without a reason. Especially not _Misty._

He sat up, ignoring the fatigue in his muscles and his eyes, and tip-toed his way over to the edge of the camp, where he could see her silhouette now, red hair— usually always up (because there was no point trying to be girly, she thought, when she had the _Sensational Sisters_ to compete with, known across Kanto for their beauty and water performances. Better just to run away and pretend she had no association, better to act as different as she could, because there was no point in ever trying to even _think_ she was beautiful when all she’d ever been told was otherwise.)— down, resting against her shoulders. Her knees were curled up. 

Ash felt a little awkward, standing there. She hadn’t noticed him yet, and he wasn’t really sure how to comfort her— if she would even let him. She was very insistent on not showing any weakness around him— quick to mask it with anger. He cleared his throat and her shoulders hiked up to her eyes with a jolt, turning around, yell already prepped in her throat, when she saw his sympathetic eyes and paused.

“What do _you_ want, Ash?”

What should he say?

“Uhh….I…I heard you cryi—“

She sent him a warning gaze.

“—well, I just— are you alright?”

“Ash Ketchum, I’ll have you know-!” she started to yell, before her eyes darted over to the still sleeping Brock, and she suddenly deflated, whispering, “—that…I’m…perfectly fine, so go back to sleep.”

And with that, she turned away, clearly signaling that the conversation was over.

He’d always been stubborn, hadn’t he?

He stood there, and she thought he’d left, before he hesitantly inched up to her. “Mist, I…don’t think you’re perfectly fine…is it…is it about your sisters?”

Her eyes darted to him way too fast for it to be anything else, but she protested anyway. “You have _no right_ to know, but no, it is not. Go away.”

“…Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

Her face was red and she was getting angrier at him, but she refrained from yelling. “I just thought, Mist, that maybe if it _was_ about them, that, I can sorta relate? I’m not saying that I understand or anything or even that it’s about your sisters, I just…I…”

He was rambling, but she wasn’t say anything, so he took it as an invitation to continue.

“…My mom…her mom and dad, and their kids, my cousins, they…don’t like us. Whenever they come over for holidays, they always argue with my mom…they’re mad, I think, about my dad…I don’t think they like…liked him, and he’s not with us, so they’re mad at us. They call her a whore,” and with that, the girl sitting next to him tensed, “which I’m not really sure what that means, but anyways, my cousins really don’t like me either, and they’re mean and I hate whenever they come— they say mean stuff, and it’s not like you, they’re _so mean,_ and I know family isn’t supposed to be like that. So. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’re not alone…if it _is_ about your sisters. If it’s not, well…” he trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He thought he’d made it awkward, because she wasn’t talking, but at least she wasn’t crying anymore.

There was a _long_ silence, and it got to the point where he thought maybe she’d just fallen asleep, and he was getting close, when she finally spoke. When she did, all the spunk and fire that usually accompanied her voice was gone, replaced by something meek and quiet. “…it is about my sisters.”

He waited, before replying “Do you want to talk about it?”

“…no. Thanks, anyways.”

He smiled, bumping their shoulders together. Instead, they talked about other things, getting rowdy until they realized they had to quiet down again, and then he woke up with his face on the floor, her shoulder digging into his elbow, and Brock laughing at them. She was back up with a yell and he knew that she was okay.

That’s what friends were for, right?

Later, when they’d been together through three regions (two-and-a-half, really, but who’s counting), she got a call from Cerulean, and though she took the call smiling, when she came back, she was angry and cold. She wouldn’t talk to him, not really. She told him that she was going to go back to Cerulean to take care of the gym, and first, he was excited for her. Wasn’t this a good thing? Her sisters were _leaving,_ on vacation, at least.

And besides, he’d almost forgotten about that conversation. It’d been years.

But she was so _angry_ at him, and he knew that anger was her default negative emotion— often used to mask other weakness. Anger allowed for aggression, to be seen as strong, to make others fear you. So was she just angry, or was she hiding in herself? Or both?

He’d chased her down, and they battled, and talked, and he realized. She was sad they were going to have to say goodbye— and she’d thought their friendship meant nothing to him. But there was more. She didn’t say it, not really, but she hinted, and he knew her well enough by then to pick up the cues.

She didn’t want to see her sisters again, even in passing. She didn’t want to go back to Cerulean. Cerulean made her feel small, and weak, and it was the center of all her insecurities. Cerulean is where she grew up, with sisters that made her feel awful and worthless.

She was _scared._

Misty was strong, though. He knew she could do it. He was sad, too, to say goodbye. But it stuck with him, then. Misty, of course, but also her sisters. He didn’t forget. And he saw that same fear in others he befriended.

Lillie, for one.

-.-.-.-

When Lusamine first saw Ash and Nebby, her eyes had been focused solely on then, not even a glance to spare for her daughter. She ignored her, as though she didn’t care. And again, a second time, Lusamine’s gaze lingered on Ash and not on Lillie.

But as soon as it seemed Lusamine was not going to get what she wanted from Ash, it was only then that she seemed to really even notice that her daughter was in the room. Her facade shifted from an indifferent one to one of such fake and overly sentimental motherly love that he was startled and more than a little put off. Lillie had been hard at work trying to pretend like she didn’t care and she was doubly surprised when Lusamine suddenly jumped onto her own daughter, picking her up like weighed nothing and squeezing the air so tight out of her it looked like she was choking.

This wasn’t a pleasant development, he could see as Lillie rolled her eyes. Lusamine was doting on her daughter, touching her and hugging her and asking her question after question. She got up close in her face and then commented on her appearance and he watched as Lillie clenched her fists at the backhanded compliment. The girl’s immediate reaction was to protest, saying her mother was so _embarrassing_ (she said with a quick look back at Ash. Was she embarrassed because he was seeing this?) and that her mother was so annoying. She talked back, and though she said that, he could see a smile creeping up onto her face.

And that was what got him. Lillie never talked about her mom at school. She was never _with_ Lusamine, the woman being far too much of a workaholic to even pay attention to her daughter. When she did it was extremely invasive— he’d heard her complain once, only once, about Hobbes sneaking pictures of her so Lusamine could see them. And yet was Lillie so starved for any sort of attention or affection from her mother that this secretly made her happy? And wasn’t that something he _really_ didn’t want to think too hard about, because he’d only get more upset?

At the same time as Lillie rolled her eyes and hid her smile under annoyance, there was something even deeper. Ash had spotted it in Misty when he was ten (it was more clear then, but he was more observant now) and he spotted it in Lillie now. There was an aversion there. She pulled away. She pulled away _more,_ it was _different,_ than just trying to get away from her mother’s touch and invasiveness. It was an unconscious want to not be anywhere near the woman at all.

There was that same _fear._ No insults were hurled at Lillie (he didn’t know enough yet, about what happened behind closed doors), only backhanded compliments and questions about what she should have already known about her daughter.

Never was Ash more grateful for his own mother, because while there were points of tension in their relationship (namely, the facts that he was almost killed or actually killed too many times to count, and that he was gone for so long, gone on a never-ending Pokemon journey. (Sometimes, he thought, when he found himself too busy to even check in on his mom, that he was becoming like his father. The he was becoming what his mother _said_ his father was— gone on a Pokemon journey and never come back. He knew better, but that was just another thing he didn’t tell his mom, along with everything else.)) At least his mother wasn’t Lusamine.

Lillie’s stance reflected his, earlier. Fight-or-flight.

Was her mother that much of a threat?

Lillie rubbed her arm awkwardly and glanced away from her mom. Lusamine, not the type to take well to being ignored, cleared her throat. Her daughter glanced up and straightened to attention immediately. He looked between them. In Lillie’s eyes he saw— only because he was closely looking—beyond the annoyance, even beyond the purity and hope.

She was the opposite of her mother. When they were together, Lillie’s natural, genuine sweetness peeled away to reveal a foreign bitterness deep in her green eyes. In contrast, Lusamine caked on the sweetness unnaturally to hide the true bitterness underneath.

He could find one similarity, though.

They were both good at masking their true emotions.

Spite filled Lillie’s eyes, suddenly, and she looked ready to challenge her mother. Lusamine stood straighter, taller (and why did she tower so, over her daughter?) more intimidating, and glanced at their company. She silently dared her daughter to challenge her authority, especially within the presence of others. And just as suddenly as the fight had filled her, it left her, and she deflated, looking at the floor and stepping down.

Lusamine _purred._ She’d gotten her way.

Ash suspected that happened most often.

The entire exchange seemed unnoticed by everyone else in the room, and they resumed their conversations. Ash felt terrible, having stood there and let Lillie deal with that herself, but he felt like he would’ve just made it worse. Instead, he walked up next to her and bumped their shoulders together (of course, the shoulder that didn’t carry Pikachu). She looked to him and he smiled. She smiled back. She immediately relaxed once she had him there to back her up. She _wasn’t_ alone in this.

They had each other.

-.-.-.-

Lusamine’s eyes lingered on Ash, at his hands, and at his eyes, after he said “ _No.”_ with such resounding finality she was startled. No one ever said _no_ to Lusamine.

She’d seen something there. His fists had clenched. He’d stared spitefully into her eyes.

There’d been a blue glow from his hands.

It had been small. He hadn’t noticed. No one else noticed.

Lusamine did.


	2. Predatory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night before, he’d known with certainty that something bad was going to happen, and he hadn’t wanted to trust Lysandre. He had, anyway.
> 
> He would not make the same mistake with Lusamine.
> 
> Later, when Ash was on the tower, looking over the destruction of Lumiose, he cursed himself for trusting the man. And Lysandre, then, had gone mad.
> 
> Would Lusamine be the same?

Ash sat across the table from Professor Kukui over dinner. They were keeping a pleasant conversation. He was updating the man about his training with Pikachu and Rowlet. Said mouse was, after inhaling his own food, nagging at Ash to get some of the ketchup he’d used for his own meal.

“Pikachu, I can’t give you ketchup _every_ night, you realize that, right, buddy?”

Instead of listening, Pikachu sent a small shock in his partner’s face. Ash let go of the ketchup bottle to clutch his nose, and the Pokemon _leaped_ to catch the following condiment, cooing happily at his reward.

Ash grunted, but Pikachu ran away before he could catch the electric Pokemon. Kukui was too busy laughing at his charge to be of any help, so he resigned himself to a fate of being made fun of. 

Thankfully, Nebby floated up to his face, nuzzling him, sensing his distress, and he pulled out a couple of star candies from his pocket to give to the little creature. “Nebby’s really taken a liking to you, Ash. I’m glad that you didn’t have any problems from Lusamine about keeping it,” and Ash looked sharply at the professor, “…Burnet mentioned that she wanted Aether to keep track of it instead.”

Ash wanted to mention that she _did_ give him problems about it, and she certainly would have fought more to take Nebby if not for his strong opposition and anger.

He couldn’t help but think she was a little like a child who’d never been told _no_ before.

He tried to shake Lusamine out of his thoughts before too long. Kukui was shockingly observant, and sometimes Ash didn’t appreciate it all that much. In Kalos, he’d grown used to being able to easily hide his feelings.

He loved his friends from Kalos, he really did, but they’d put him on such a pedestal that they hadn’t really stopped to think that he might have problems, too. Of course, they were there for him when he was sick (as he heard from Serena later) and they were there when it was a smaller problem.

But when he woke up crying, trying not to scream, they weren’t. They didn’t know. They weren’t looking closely enough. He was the leader of that group, the older one, and so no one was looking at him with concern. Not like Brock.

And besides, Kalos had been a walk in the park with legendary encounters and saving the world (except for _Pikachu being turned to stone in front of him)_ until the Kalos Crisis.

That had _messed him up._

So he was used to not having to try so hard to hide his issues. That came to be a problem when he started living with Kukui, a man who’d boarded students before and was a teacher of a class with only a few kids. He was used to looking for issues and hugging them out.

And besides, it was really hard for Ash to hide at all, after Lysandre. He hadn’t had a parental figure in his life since he was 10, and he’d never even really had a dad at all, and so it unnerved him to find an adult looking awfully close.

(Kukui had looked extra close, too, he’d noticed, because Ash _seemed_ so okay. No one can be happy all the time, the professor had said it himself, and he found himself being observed more closely than he was comfortable with.)

Kukui seemed like he’d noticed something up with Ash anyway. “Ash, _did_ Lusamine give you any trouble about Nebby?”

Don’t answer too fast, it will seem fake.

“No, not really, it was fine, Professor. She asked to keep Nebby, but I told her no, and she listened, so everything was all good.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

And with that, the topic was dropped.

He went to bed with a troubled heart.

The next couple of days, he tried to keep Lusamine off of his mind, but she was slowly taking up more space in it. He could tell he was getting anxious, and he could tell that he needed a release for both his emotions and his aura or he was going to burst.

He was walking home from school, worrying his lip and murmuring to Pikachu about her. His buddy felt the same as him— Lusamine was bad news. He had to keep a close eye on her. What was she up to? What was she going to do?

Ash had unfortunately forgotten Nebby’s inconvenient habit of teleporting them to whatever he was thinking about, and so one second he found himself with the sun on his skin and his feet in the sand, and the next he found himself in a cooler place with stale air and he realized he was in Aether Paradise.

Alone.

Shit.

-.-.-.-

The night before the finals of the Lumiose Conference, Ash was genuinely excited. He’d _never_ gotten this far in a League and he really felt like he could actually _win_ it this time. This was one of his strongest teams and he had _Greninja._ The shinobi frog made him feel strong. The feeling of their bond-evolution, all strength and unity and cool water washing over him, reminded him of the first time he let Riolu aura train him.

He wondered then, if they were somehow connected. In the beginning, when he and Greninja hadn’t mastered it yet, and he passed out after every time, the hurt he felt then was a fraction of what he felt, pushing out all his aura in the forest against Hunter J, but it was the same sort of pain, and that was what made him wonder if they really were one and the same. They very well could have been.

He was confident and hopeful, cheering on his Pokemon as they prepared for the final match. He could feel it. They were going to _win._

Pikachu noticed before he did, whirling to the darkness behind him with a questioning “Pi?”, eyes and ears at attention. He turned, confused, before seeing an abnormally tall man emerging from the shadows. Lysandre, he said his name was. There was something off about him.

He walked with a confident gait, striding straight up to Ash and towering over him. He spoke. The words were normal, harmless. Commending him on a job well done. Wishing him luck. Asking to speak after the match. All of it was normal.

But his _eyes._ Ash knew, that people could carefully train and form their faces to tell lies and deceit, but they couldn’t hide their eyes, and thus so, he always looked there to see their true intention. Lysandre’s eyes were predatory. He was hungry, seeking, searching Ash. The piercing blue contrasted with his crazy fire-orange hair.

While unnerving, it was all fine and good. That was okay. Some people were like that. Ash misjudged people sometimes.

He leaned forward and put his hands on Ash’s shoulders (which Ash absolutely hated, now. He didn’t let anyone touch his shoulder like that. Every so often, Kukui reminded him of Lysandre. He was tall, too. So was Lusamine. _Why_ were they all so _tall_ , towering over him, making him feel just like he was twelve again and told he was the _Chosen One_ and that it was his turn to save the world?) He had to nearly bend in half and seemed happy to be in the position of power in that situation. He could tell Lysandre had a well-practiced intimidation technique, using his height to his advantage. His hands were large and strong, tightly gripping Ash’s shoulders. He wanted to _control_ Ash.

Lysandre was nice and respectful. He was a _scientist._

Ash did not like Lysandre one bit.

During the finals the next day, Ash was off his game. He was too distracted, his mind focused too much on Lysandre. He made rookie mistakes. He didn’t trust enough in his Pokemon. He rushed the battles, acting more impulsively and less strategically than he had planned. He wanted to focus on Alain, on the battle, on his Pokemon, on _winning._

All that went through his mind, though, was that something was going to happen. Kalos had been way too easy, mild. Something _big_ was coming. He knew he had to be prepared. He couldn’t focus.

That cost him his victory.

The night before, he’d known with certainty that something bad was going to happen, and he hadn’t wanted to trust Lysandre. He had, anyway.

He would _not_ make the same mistake with Lusamine.

Later, when Ash was on the tower, looking over the destruction of Lumiose, he cursed himself for trusting the man. And Lysandre, then, had gone mad.

Would Lusamine be the same?

-.-.-.-

Before long, he could the unmistakable _click-click_ of Lusamine’s heels on the floor and cursed silently to himself. He did not want to deal with her, not alone with Nebby. There were no social constraints, now, except him and her.

She noticed him and her face turned from troubled to pleased so fast he found himself stuck in place. She click-clicked over to him and then he felt himself backing up, cowed, though trying hard not to show it. Her eyes were swirling with desire and before he realized, he found himself backed into a corner.

She was so tall. He half expected her to put her hands on his shoulders in the same manner.

There was the same predatory look in her eyes before she even got a saccharine-sweet word out, and she was exactly the same as Lysandre. He knew, now, that this was the start. This was where it turned like Lysandre.

Who was her Team? Aether?

(But what about Burnet?)

Her smile was too wide, showing too many teeth, as she exclaimed, pleased, “Ash! What a pleasant surprise to see you here!”

Her eyes looked down at Nebby. 

“What brings you to our wonderful paradise of Aether? Strolling along?”

He didn’t want to tell her Nebby had teleported him here by accident. That would give her reason enough to claim he was not qualified to take care of it.

“Just thought I’d come to visit Professor Burnet at work! I got lost, though, do you know where she is?” He was peeking around her, leaning as far as he could while also indicating he wanted to _leave now._

“I certainly do, child!”, and _that_ bothered him, because the way she said it insinuated that he was dumb and helpless, “Before, though, can I ask you something really quick, sweetie?”

The pet name made his skin crawl. “I don’t know, Lusamine, I’d really like to get to Professor—“

“What do we have here, Lusamine?”

_Faba_ was here too? 

“Ash here was just answering my question really very quickly and then he’s going to go visit Burnet? Isn’t that wonderful?”

“It sure is,” he said, in his chillingly sing-song voice, “what was your question, Lusamine?”

She turned her chaotic eyes back on him. “Ash. This might sound weird. Have you ever noticed anything…different, about yourself? Anything that makes you _special?”_

Oh, shit.

Lusamine had her sights set on him. Lysandre had called him special. Hunter J had called him special. _Lusamine_ didn’t even know, yet, did she, about his aura? There was nothing to make her think…

“I don’t think so. Just a normal trainer here! Right, Pikachu?”

The mouse cheered, louder than normal, trying to make Ash’s claim sound convincing.

“Oh, but certainly, there must be a reason Solgaleo and Lunala chose you to care for Nebby, here? Certainly, there must be a reason that Tapu Koko has taken such an interest in you? I’d call that special enough. Have you ever noticed anything more?”

He was tense. He could feel it. They could see it. He wasn’t going to be able to lie himself easily out of this one, and he couldn’t just run, not when there were two of them, not when he was in unfamiliar territory, not when it would only make things worse.

“…I guess there is that. I’m not sure why! I just tend to want to help people and Pokemon wherever I can, and I really take the time to care for my Pokemon and become friends with them. Maybe that makes me seem…different, I guess you could call it? That must be it.”

Her smile tightened and her voice turned even sweeter, sing-song tone matching Faba’s arrogant one. She was laying it on _thick,_ honey dripping from her words as she took one step closer. “Oh, Ash, that’s not it! There’s something _more,_ I know it! What is it? Are you a psychic? Blessed by a legendary? Child of a Champion? Part of a prophecy? What is it? I want to _know!”_

She was too close, now, her smiling face barely a foot away from his. He was terrified, and he felt himself trembling. He dared himself to look higher than her mouth into her eyes and he could see the darkness beneath them was so black and dizzyingly deep that it suddenly felt as though he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t tear his own away from hers, lost in the endless kaleidoscope of black, green, black green blackgreenblack _greenblackgreen_ and they held the choppy cold waters of the ocean within, and his throat was closing and he couldn’t formulate a reply. Pikachu growled, yelling at her to back off, and gave a warning shock. When she didn’t respond, he hopped off of Ash’s shoulder and head-butted her face.

She recoiled as if slapped, and Ash was out of his trance. He was angry. How _dare she?_

_“_ Oh! I’m sorry, Ash, I do hope you’ll forgive me!”

“Why should I? You have _no_ right to ask me these questions or get in my personal space, leave me _alone!”_

“You’re being a little overdramatic, aren’t you, honey? I just had a little question for you, no need to be so angry! Right, Faba? I’m sorry if I offended you, but please don’t take out your personal problems on me, dear.”

Was she _seriously_ trying to gaslight him _?_

_“_ I said, Lusamine, leave me _alone!”_

Unable to look into her eyes as they shifted to anger, he closed his eyes tightly and ran past her, pushing both of them.

He missed hers and Faba’s sharp inhale. He didn’t pay attention to anything, running wherever his body led him.

The room had lit up with a blue glow for the second he’d had his eyes closed, in synchronicity with his yell, his plea for them to back off. The two scientists looked at each other.

_That_ was what made him special, then.

He was trying not to cry and then suddenly he was colliding face first with someone’s chest and _thank Arceus, it was Burnet._

“Oh my gosh, Ash, honey, are you alright? What’s wrong? I’m here!”

He couldn’t stop the tears from flowing out of his eyes now that he was in her arms, warm and soft and _safe,_ and he couldn’t talk, and he felt like everything was okay for just a minute before he heard her _clickety-clack_ heels again and he tensed and Burnet looked up to see Lusamine. She hugged Ash tighter. He could tell she was confused.

“Lusamine? What happened? What did you do to Ash!?”

He didn’t want to look, he just _knew_ that Lusamine was smiling cruelly, lies and deceit on her tongue, and she was going to paint the situation to make him seem like the irrational one. He heard her tsk with concern. “Oh, Ash, dear, what’s wrong? Professor Burnet, I don’t know what happened! I was just walking and then he came running by, crying! I’m not sure what set him off. I tried to help him, but he just ran away from me! Hopefully, he’s safe with you.”

That liar!

He was going to say something to contradict, but then she continued. “You know, I’ve heard that little Nebby sometimes teleports random places! Poor Ash here must have been so confused, being at school one second and Aether Paradise the next! That must have been what set him off, _right Ash?”_

Again, she didn’t give him a chance to correct her before she finished her tirade. “That begs the question, of course, is Nebby _really_ in the best hands possible? We could help with that sort of thing, and then you wouldn’t have to be so scared!”

Pikachu yelled threateningly at the woman behind him, creeping closer with each word. Burnet held him tighter, protective. Even if she didn’t understand the situation, she knew Pikachu was protecting his trainer— meaning Ash needed to be protected, in the first place. But who would she believe if Ash rose up to tell his side of the story?

He turned around, and Lusamine looked sweetly onto him with false concern. He wasn’t confident Burnet would trust him, not when Lusamine was so skilled with her lies and deceit. He clenched his fists. She knew she’d won.

“Lusamine, I do _not_ need you to take care of Nebby. I am perfectly capable of keeping track of it and I will not disappoint Solgaleo and Lunala.”

“Are you sure? You seemed awfully scared by teleporting, back there, running and crying!”

His jaw was tight and his anger was visible but he was forced to back down. “…That was just this time. I will be prepared next time. Can I go home?” he said through his teeth.

The Professor hugged him closer. “Of course, sweetie, you can go home now. I’ll take you. Let’s go have the rest of the day off, okay? Fun night in?”

Still staring defiantly into Lusamine’s eyes, he nodded.

-.-.-.-

Burnet didn’t mention what happened to Kukui, and he was thankful. He didn’t need two concerned adults on his back, not when he needed a private talk with Pikachu about what their next step forward would be. Not when he needed to plan. Not when he felt like he was going to burst with pent-in anger and anxiety and aura.

They ate dinner and laughed and he felt his worries melting away, able to focus on the family he’d found in Alola. They watched three movies in a row before falling asleep on the couch.

He woke up sometime in the early morning, though, restless and anxious. He could tell it was a nightmare, with the sweat on his brow and the pounding of his heart, but he didn’t know what about. His thoughts drifted, again, to Lillie’s mother.

He _couldn’t_ let Lusamine find out about him.

He _needed_ a release, though, so he gently shook Pikachu awake and they walked out of the house without a question asked. He walked until he found himself on the edge of the beach and forest and stole into the trees until he was sure he couldn’t be seen. “Pikachu, buddy, wanna do some training? I need a release. I need to hide it. Think you can cover me?”

An affirmation and they fell into the routine they’d been rehearsing since he’d gotten to Alola. After Kalos, Ash hadn’t felt comfortable with anyone, even his friends, finding anything out about his powers, so he’d left Riolu back on Oak’s ranch and devised a way to train while still hiding it. If he attacked in synchronicity with Pikachu’s sparks, no one would notice there was extra energy behind the Pokemon’s moves.

“Okay, go!”

Pikachu let out a Thunderbolt, electricity crackling and buzzing into a tree, and Ash followed with his own energy, twisting around the lightning and adding extra power. He ran, sparring with his partner, attacking with him should anyone be watching. He was out of breath but couldn’t have felt more alive at the same time. He gathered his anxieties, his worry, his fear, and let it consume him for just a moment, choking him, tears springing to his eyes, before he expelled it all in a powerful flash of blue, launching into Pikachu’s fur, sending him spinning. He ran, jumping, spinning, and laughing, ignoring the tears on his face, and pushed out all his energy.

He tried to focus on training, but his mind couldn’t help wandering. Faba had been hanging around the school more, and he’d tried to dismiss it, but now he couldn’t, not with the way they’d cornered him today. He’d been acting weird, drawn to Nebby, looking toward Lillie, and talking to himself.

Ash hadn’t really taken him seriously. He looked like Team Rocket when they had a particularly stupid plan, mischievous and overzealous. They looked like Pikachu when he decided to prank Ash, like a child about to play a practical joke. Ash was starting to regret trusting them even the tiniest bit. Was all of Aether like this? What about Burnet?

He was so focused on his thoughts that he was violently knocked aside when Pikachu got a direct hit into his chest and his back hit a tree, the wind knocked out of him. He hit his head and bit back a cry. _Focus!_ He collected himself, his scattered thoughts, in one breath as he shook his head. If he tried to put out his power like this, he was going to hurt someone. Pikachu faltered, for a moment, concerned, before Ash smiled and egged the electric rodent on. Pikachu let out a fierce bolt of lightning and he darted to the side, head back in the game.

He wasn’t going to let himself be like he was in the finals.

He ran towards Pikachu, gathering up a thin shield— he was training himself, now, to be able to manipulate his aura until it was almost unnoticeable— thin, but powerful, and it would give him an advantage. It took an immense amount of control and he hadn’t been able to master it so far, which is why he’d had Pikachu to help him mask it in the first place.

He was going to try anyway.

He took a deep inhale and a long exhale, ignoring the pounding of his heart, and pushed out his energy, willing it to spread wide and hot, twisting and turning and pulling in the air, intensely concentrated on thinning it out, making it match the clarity of the night air. His hands were shaking. His breath was stolen away from him. He was tripping over his feet. He couldn’t focus on anything else or he would lose it. His eyes were blurring, focusing on nothing in particular as he took a breath in, a breath out, and willed it to follow his intention.

The blue energy radiated power, creating a breeze into his face, but it became sheerer than it had before. It still lit the area around him with a blue glow, but it was dimmer than before. He could see through it, the world only slightly distorted, instead of the normal refraction of light similar to looking through water. He smiled. He pushed it forward to Pikachu, moving his hands along with the image in his mind to bend and move and wrap around his opponent. The yellow rodent ran into it, disoriented, before turning around and realizing he was surrounded.

He attacked the invisible wall, and against the strain, Ash lost his control and while it remained intact, it lit the area with a much brighter blue light, effectively losing the cloak of transparency. He smiled, anyway, sitting on the ground and signaling the spar was over. Pikachu ran up to him, congratulating and nuzzling his chest.

He was _almost_ there. That was _so_ cool.

He picked himself up and began the long walk back to the beach house, officially exhausted. He was covered with electric burns and his lungs burned with the cold air, but he was smiling anyway. 

When Ash opened the door, he found that neither of the professors had woken up in his absence and he snuck up to the loft. He held Pikachu tight. He was okay. He was going to be fine. Sure. Lusamine was scary, and Faba was up to something, and he didn’t like the way Lillie acted around her mother, and something big was coming—

But he was okay.

-.-.-.-

She sat at her desk, poring over books on energy and reports of humans with powers.

“Faba, come here please!”

He rushed to her side, waiting like a lapdog. “Lusamine, what have you found?”

“I _think_ I’ve found what’s going to tie this all together. Now all we need to do is execute it. Do you know what you need to do?”

He nodded, the same smile creeping onto his face. “You’re going to get your dream, Lusamine.”

“Finally.”


	3. Heartbreaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And Lusamine crawled over to her daughter, again, and hugged her tight, and whispered that she loved her daughter, and Lillie looked so amazed, surprised, and happy— and it was heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking, because Ash could see how fake it was.
> 
> It was heartbreaking, because Lillie looked like she’d never heard those words before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this out a little earlier but I've been swamped with work and homework. It's out now!

Ash stared into the mirror, making eye contact with Pikachu on his shoulder through the reflection. He was _trying_ to be happy, to keep his mind off of Lusamine and Faba, to be happy for Lillie, who was learning to touch Pokemon more and more every day. He’d been with her for her whole learning process. At the beginning, she’d been terrified to even be near any Pokemon at all, and he’d been sad for her, but he’d understood. She was like Toni, the little boy in Hoenn who was terrified of touching Pokemon too, and they’d been able to help him, so he had all the belief that Lillie would be okay too.

It had taken pretty long, anyways, longer than a couple days like with Toni, but it was okay, because he was patient, and Lillie was trying so hard, and he was so proud of her. He always supported his friends through whatever they were working towards— whether that be Pokemon breeder (doctor, now) or Master, or Top Coordinator, or Kalos Queen, or gym leader, or even just learning to heal from the past (he knew, more than many, how hard that could be, and how long it took. So he was patient.)

But then she was touching the egg, and then she was touching Snowy, and then _Pikachu!_ And he was so happy for her! Ash couldn’t help but think, though, about the fear in her eyes. When they’d been with Lusamine, he’d seen the shrouded fear in Lillie’s eyes, and it had been familiar, it had been so familiar, but couldn’t place where. Now, he realized.

The fear in Lillie’s eyes when facing her mother was the exact same fear in her eyes when she pushed so hard to try and touch Pokemon but still couldn’t.

He got goosebumps thinking about that.

But he was happy! Tonight he and his friends were all going to have a sleepover together, and they were going to have _fun,_ and they were going to play games and focus on each other and not on Lusamine.

He hoped Lillie was okay. He felt like she wasn’t. Over the last couple days, he’d been feeling an increasingly heavy weight burdened on her back. She was bothered, like he was.

Could she feel it too? That something big was coming?

The sleepover was going great, and he was happy, and Lillie was thinking about her mother, he just knew it, but he wanted everyone to be okay. He took a breath in and out and pet Pikachu, sitting in his lap. Why was it so hard to control his emotions, now? It used to be easier.

At some point, he could tell Lillie wasn’t with them anymore, and Burnet wasn’t there either. He hoped they would be okay.

She came back seeming happier.

Then Nebby teleported them, and then Gladion was there, and Silvally was there, and Ash wasn’t bothered, but Gladion avoided Lillie like the plague, even though they were siblings, and so he knew this was bad but he didn’t know what to do to stop it. The night breeze ruffled his hair. Lillie stood, frozen, and she gasped, and he looked and she was terrified, in the stillness of the night. There were tears in her eyes and in the starlight the green was dimmer, rippled and dappled and so full of fear that it broke his heart.

(There was a thought, in the back of his mind, that compared hers to her mother’s once again and found little commonality other than the color. Did Lusamine even know what fear _was?_

Did Lusamine even know her daughter was this scared?)

She was still frozen, and she wasn’t responding, and she wasn’t moving, and even when they were back at the house she wasn’t _there,_ and he wondered. Was this what he looked like after they finally defeated Hunter J? He didn’t much remember what happened in those hours that he missed (he didn’t even really know how long it actually was.) She was retreated so far into her mind, and her eyes were clouded, now, and empty, and he was scared for Lillie.

What had happened with Silvally to make her so terrified?

Snowy tried to jump on her and she _flinched,_ and she let out a whimper, and oh _no,_ were they back to square zero? Had all of her journey, her hard work, vanished?

Was it his fault?

The little white Pokemon immediately fell back, confused, and Lillie was crying, apologizing. She was back in herself now, but she couldn’t touch Pokemon anymore, and there was fear in her eyes again.

It was one more thing that was similar.

The fear that distorted the usual purity and happiness in her eyes was the same; when she looked at Silvally, when Pokemon tried to touch her, and when she looked into her mother’s angry gaze.

Were they connected?

He felt awful. He was sure she did, too.

Everyone sort of went home, after that. They weren’t in the mood to have a good time together, not after Lillie went home crying.

He couldn’t help but feel like it really was his fault.

He met Gladion on the beach, his eyes so full of guilt that it was a wonder he could see where he was going at all. Gladion was _so mad._ He had every right to be. Sure, Nebby had teleported them, but if Ash claimed he was capable enough to take care of Nebby, that Aether Paradise should trust him, that _Solgaleo and Lunala_ should trust him, then he could not blame the little Pokemon. Nebby was his responsibility. He had to take responsibility for the consequences of whatever Nebby did.

Gladion yelled, and in the moonlight, his hair was bleach-white, almost silver, and he was all sharp edges and Ash could tell he was desperate, and he was angry, because all he wanted to do was protect Lillie. His green eyes were sharp, furious, disappointed, and pointed. His posture was aggressive. He was taller, and Ash had to look up to meet his eyes (it was hard, anyway.)

He didn’t know much about Gladion. He was Lillie’s brother. He’d run away. He hated Lusamine (Ash was starting to understand why, and he knew he didn’t know enough). He had Silvally. Gladion avoided Lillie, and they didn’t talk, and they seemed more enemies than siblings, and he was distant, but Ash knew that even when his gaze was cold as ice and he seemed steely and withdrawn, all he cared about was keeping his sister safe.

Whatever had happened to Lillie had made him protective like that.

Now she couldn’t touch Pokemon. Lusamine had something to do with it, and Faba probably did too. Silvally clearly did. Gladion knew. Lillie couldn’t remember. Did Lusamine?

Did she even care? 

Ash knew that it was his fault, but like a coward, he still tried to explain that Nebby had teleported them. “Don’t _blame this on Nebby, Ash!_ Take responsibility for the consequences of your actions!”

He opened his mouth, but words couldn’t come out. What was there to say? Sorry wouldn’t suffice, and Gladion wouldn’t accept it anyways. Lillie was the one he should apologize to, but she wouldn’t accept it either, and she would just assure him it wasn’t his fault, with her endless kindness to a fault. (In a rare moment of self-clarity, he realized they were similar, in that way.)

So he just stood there, looking pathetic, taking Gladion’s anger, saying nothing, wishing he could say sorry. He wished it hadn’t happened.

He hoped Lillie was okay.

He went to sleep feeling awful. He brushed past Kukui and Burnet and hoped that his pasted-on smile (like Lusamine’s) looked genuine enough for them to pass him by without another care.

-.-.-.-

Gladion ran into his mother’s office, angry at Faba and desperate to find Silvally, who’d been stolen from him.

Lusamine _had_ to know, right?

He came, asking where Silvally was, if she knew, if she knew about Faba, and what his plans were.

She played dumb. She acted as though she had no idea what Silvally was, even though he _knew_ she did. He knew she did, because things like that had always been her dream, her fascination, her _obsession._

“Lusamine, I _know_ you know what Silvally is. Do you know what Faba’s plan is?”

She said she didn’t. He couldn’t tell if she was lying. She’d always been so good at hiding things from him, at manipulating him, at making him think he was crazy for even asking her something, crazy for telling the truth.

He felt like she was lying anyway.

What Gladion hated the most was the way Lusamine countered his angry insults with a calm, confused, demeanor, as though he was the one who was out of line, and not her.

She was really good at lying.

He wondered how he and Lillie were so different from her.

They looked, together, for Silvally’s ball, and he couldn’t help but be disgusted by his mother. When he was in the same room with her, he remembered all over again why he’d run away in the first place.

“Ultra Beasts have always been your dream, Mother.”

She opened her mouth to deny, but then seemed to think better of it. A sort of pleasure entered her tone and her eyes filled with desire, unfocused and seemingly imagining some pleasurable outcome where she achieved her dream.

It disgusted him.

Lusamine was _still_ obsessed with Ultra Beasts, even after what happened to Lillie?

She played dumb again, and now he _knew_ she was lying. He remembered her _being there_ when Lillie was hurt by that Ultra Beast.

Lusamine denied. He knew she was trying to manipulate him, but it wasn’t so easy anymore.

“You’ve always been that sort of person, Lusamine. She’s your _daughter._ How could you not realize she was suffering? Did you even _know_ that she’s terrified, that she can’t remember, that she can’t touch Pokemon?”

Lusamine was deeply offended, he could see in the way her nostrils flared, her eyes turned angry and sharp and dangerous (and even though he was older now, and he wasn’t so weak, and he wasn’t _afraid_ of his mother, there was still some weak part of his heart that wanted to curl up and submit and apologize), but he didn’t back down.

“ _Gladion!_ How could you, I’m your _mother!”_

She was no mother of his.

Still, he backed down. He would not win the battle against her. There was no winning against Lusamine. Even if he had the most well-thought-out argument, with evidence on his side, it wouldn’t matter. She was so gifted with words that she could twist her argument into beautiful, honey-coated lies, sweet and sugary, pleasant and fake.

She made him feel small and weak, even with all his anger and defiance and might.

They were more similar than he would like to admit, the same sharp edges and pride.

Lusamine cloaked her anger in good intentions, in copious amounts of saccharine-sweet sugar.

Gladion embraced it, prickly and defensive.

At least he actually cared about his family and friends, though. 

-.-.-.-

Before Hunter J, when Ash was in Sinnoh, he _hated_ Paul. He didn’t hate a lot of people. He didn’t hate the criminals he had to fight. He got angry, for sure, but he never hated them.

What really got under his skin, though, was people who treated Pokemon (and people) like they were worthless. Like they were tools, to be used, only valuable when they won. (Or when they could be sold for a quick buck.) He’d sheltered Pokemon like that before— Charizard. He found a little Charmander out in the rain, at the beginning of his journey, looking so sad and so _hopeful,_ out there waiting for a trainer who was never going to come back. Out there for a trainer who _abandoned_ him to die. The trainer knew full well that leaving a weak Charmander out in the rain with barely a flame would kill it.

Clearly the trainer didn’t care.

Charmander wouldn’t listen to Ash. He tried to get him to come to safety, but he just waited out there, so hopeful that his trainer would come back like he promised. It sickened him (and oh, now, how Lillie’s gaze reminded him of Charmander’s, so hopeful and dependent on the smallest bit of affection from her mother.)

Charmander wouldn’t _listen,_ but he didn’t want him to die. Brock and Misty told him to leave.

He came, though, and he didn’t force Charmander to leave. All he wanted to do was protect him from the rain.

In the morning, Charmander’s trainer _came back_ to claim him, when he saw that he hadn’t _died!_ Ash was so angry, he wanted to go and punch the stupid smiling smirk off the guy’s face, and he’d found it hard to contain himself. Charmander had been ecstatic. That made him sad.

Charmander, thankfully, in the end, went with Ash, and Ash had been as patient as he could. He knew that he couldn’t force anything. (When he tried to force anything with Misty, all he got was an earful of screamed insults and a new bruise). And Charmander had been so _attached,_ so immediately dependent on Ash that it couldn’t have been healthy.

And then Charmander had evolved into Charmeleon and it was _really_ hard to be patient. He wouldn’t listen and it was a complete 180 from where he’d been before (maybe, then, Charmander had been so obedient because he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, too afraid that he would be hurt or punished if he did anything even slightly wrong. And maybe, just maybe, he got so attached because that was the first time he’d ever been shown love.)

Charmeleon had made Ash angry, and he did and said things he shouldn’t have, but it was _hard_ to raise Pokemon. It was especially hard to raise Pokemon who had baggage.

It was unfortunate, then, that Kanto didn’t regard Pokemon as very worthy beings at all.

Charizard had been worse. He actively attacked and embarrassed Ash, and, he was ashamed to admit, he almost thought of abandoning Charizard himself ( _maybe we just aren’t compatible, maybe he’ll be better off with someone else._

_Maybe I can’t handle him._

_Maybe he’s the problem.)_

But then he realized he was stupid, because Charizard’s old trainer had abandoned him, and Pokemon weren’t _tools_ to be used, he had to remind himself, even though it felt like everyone else told him otherwise (Lt. Surge, urging him to evolve Pikachu into Raichu even though he didn’t want to. Others, laughing at his inability to control and train Charizard. Gary, insulting him and his abilities and his Pokemon.)

And the Indigo League had come around, had Charizard had cost him the League, and he’d been so angry then, so angry, and Charizard was so smug.

Then, though, in the Orange Islands, he’d been able to prove his own worth as a trainer to Charizard. He didn’t care how long it took, after Charizard was frozen in a block of ice. He would _not_ give up on his Pokemon. He would not leave Charizard to get sick or die, and he didn’t care how much it hurt him to save the Pokemon’s life. 

He couldn’t ignore the similarities to the first time he’d met Charizard.

His hands were bleeding, rubbing the ice, and Charizard’s eyes had been bewildered. He’d been so difficult, and yet Ash had still stuck around?

(Was he just testing Ash, the whole time, waiting for him to abandon him?)

And after that, everything changed. Ash placed his hope into Charizard one final time, no matter how many times he had failed him.

And then Charizard _listened._ And he listened again, and every time after that.

Patience always paid off.

So Ash was really ticked off by the way Paul trained his Pokemon, he didn’t _care_ that was the League-endorsed way of training Pokemon, like they were just objects, like they didn’t _matter._

He battled Paul, over and over, and he _lost._

He lost, again and again, and most of the time he was okay with just cursing the other boy (he couldn’t ignore, though, that every time felt like a insult to his method of training. Was Paul’s method right? What about the way his Pokemon loved him and he loved them? What about every time they were surprised, confusion clouding their eyes, when he extended them kindness and patience?)

And then Paul _abandoned Chimchar._ And he couldn’t have been more angry than he was in that moment, growl in his throat and tears in his eyes, watching the way Chimchar looked so sad and broken and confused, and the way he sat back and accepted it, and the way Paul looked on the little monkey Pokemon with disgust and indifference, aloof and uncaring.

He saw _red._

It was _just like Charizard._

He’d stepped forward, ready to start a fight, but Brock had put his hand on Ash’s shoulder, a silent _No, it’s not worth it, you won’t change his mind._

Instead of anger, he immediately offered a home to Chimchar on his team, and he relished the look of anger and surprise on Paul’s face. But he appreciated the look of hope in Chimchar’s eyes more.

The little Pokemon was so _scared,_ and couldn’t accept his love, and it was so hard, again, and took so much patience, and Ash didn’t care how much Chimchar hurt him. He was going to stay by his side.

And, through hard work for the both of them, Chimchar finally grew to trust Ash.

And then he went into a 6-on-6 battle with Paul. 

He and his Pokemon worked so hard to beat Paul, but it felt like every move he made Paul was one step ahead. He didn’t even dignify Ash with a matching passion. He battled like he was disinterested, calmly delivering his commands, confident and prideful. He made Ash look _dumb._ He hated it. He hated feeling helpless like that, feeling like he was 10 again and facing Gary, with his insults and superiority and making him feel small. Paul made him feel like that, even though he was 14 now, and it had been 4 years, and he and Gary were friends now.

He hated that. And he pushed Chimchar, and he believed in all his Pokemon, but it seemed like he was nothing, like he was a beginner, like he was awful at Pokemon training.

And then he lost.

Ash had gotten good at taking losses in stride, maturing every day, believing in his Pokemon, and working on himself.

But this didn’t feel like any of that. This just felt awful. This just felt like it knocked him down to the very floor, like all of his progress, like those 4 years, like those 5 journeys, had never happened. It felt like he would never get better, like he was all alone, and he knew it was _all his fault._

It felt like it was something inherently wrong with him.

He shut down. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He didn’t feel like doing anything, and he felt _awful,_ because his Pokemon were _hurt,_ hurt real bad, and it was all his fault. He wallowed in self-pity, in his spiraling thoughts that told him he was worthless and that maybe he should just give up on Pokemon training altogether.

He sat on a hill, watching the grass sway, watching the clouds drift by, thinking the world had no business being so happy when everything seemed hopeless.

He sat there, _pathetic,_ hating himself, like a loser.

He was.

He felt like he was drowning.

…

He needed to get up. He needed to stop all of this. He needed to go see his Pokemon.

…He didn’t move.

Finally, _finally,_ he found the motivation to get up, again, and his Pokemon came and comforted him (even though _he_ should be the one comforting them, after he led them to fail so miserably against Paul.)

He wanted to laugh at himself. He was so _stupid._

(He supposed, though, that being positive all the time, he was bound to crash at some point. It wasn’t so hard, back then, to keep his smile, back when he was still more innocent. Before Hunter J and everything else. Sure, of course, he’d had more than his fair share of saving the world, and he woke up with nightmares and tears in his eyes, but he had Brock and he was young and he felt like he could take on the world!

He knew, though, that even though he was naturally an optimist and he never gave up and never ever thought of himself before others when he threw himself into danger, that he could’t be happy forever. And so when he did finally fall from his tower, of the perfect image of optimism and happiness, he fell _hard._ He sat there, aimless, wanting to give it all up, feeling absolutely awful as his self worth went to shit.

He supposed, too, that when all of his worth was tied to how well he did in battles, defeat— _real_ defeat, like with Paul now— was absolutely crushing.

He also hated these moments when he felt down because he actually focused on himself. It forced him to self-reflect, to actually think about everything he pushed aside to deal with later in his pursuits to keep moving forward, keep going and going and working and working and never stopping. Running from everything, even as he was running toward his goal. When he was actually still, he got his rare moments of self clarity. 

He didn’t like it one bit.)

Ash got up, though, anyways, and pushed through, and then he was all smiles again.

He didn’t want to think about what happened next in Sinnoh.

-.-.-.-

The next day he felt _pathetic,_ and guilty, and he just sat in his self-pity, feeling sorry for Lillie, and it was _so_ unlike him.

He hated how _small_ he felt in moments like this.

He hated himself. He hated what he’d done. He hated that Lillie had to deal with how he’d hurt her. He hated how Pikachu could tell.

He hated how Kukui could tell.

He managed to escape the Professor’s worried questions and looks in the morning, and at school, though he sent him the occasional concerned glance, he knew that the Professor was more concerned about Lillie.

When Ash saw Lillie, it only made him feel worse. She’d lost so much. She tried, _tried,_ to touch Snowy, but she couldn’t; she froze and the fear painted on her face broke his heart.

She smiled to him and he couldn’t hold eye contact.

Arceus, he was _awful._

Lillie had none of it. She recognized the look of guilt in his avoided gaze. She went closer to him, bumping her shoulder against his in the same way he always did to comfort her. 

“Hey. Ash.”

A noncommittal grunt in response.

“Please, Ash. I know what you’re thinking. It’s not your fault. Please don’t think it is.”

How did she know?

“Lillie— I’m so sorry. I’m so _sorry.”_

“It’s _not_ your fault. We’ll just—“ her voice faltered and he could hear the lump in her throat “— we’ll just start over, okay? I’ve done it before, and I can do it again. It’s—it will be okay, Ash.”

He wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him, now, or herself.

“Ash, let’s walk home together, okay?”

She was walking home? 

“I want to. There’s something important I need to do.”

The end of the day came and went and they found themselves walking in step with each other on the boardwalk.

“So when you talked to Gladion last night, did he say anything about me?”

He froze, for just a second, and then tried to conceal it with a nervous laugh. How did she _know?_ Was she _that_ perceptive? Was he just that see-through?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come on, Ash, what did he say?”

Rotom interjected. “You saw Gladion?”

And with that, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide it. Not with the way Lillie looked like she could see straight into his soul. He squirmed, uncomfortable with the idea that anyone would be able to read him so easily.

Ash sighed. “I did.”

A certain pride lifted Lillie’s chin, ever so slightly. “I figured as much.”

And then he couldn’t stop the words from flowing out. “He was _real_ mad about you seeing Silvally and he was yelling and now you can’t touch Pokemon anymore and I’m _sorry_ and—“

“Ash, I’d like to remember. I want— I _need_ remember everything that happened that night. It’s kept me back for too long. I don’t want to be so terrified of that— that _thing,_ and I want to get past this. I don’t want to be set back so far!”

There were tears in her eyes.

“And _don’t_ say sorry, Ash, this is something I need to work on. I want your help. I need to remember.”

Staring into her steely gaze, (the determination in them reminded him of himself. It also reminded him of Gladion. He could see the family resemblance.) he nodded. “Okay. I’ll help.”

Nebby teleported them around, and each time Lillie’s eyes alighted with recognition and a new memory. Memories of a happier time, when she was little, and Lusamine and her and Gladion were still a real family. Back before Lusamine dove into her work and ignored Lillie and before Gladion ran away and before she was too afraid of Pokemon to touch them and before whatever happened that night.

“I remember each of these places so vividly. I don’t understand how I can remember these and yet I can’t remember what happened on that one night.”

“Wanna keep going?”

They did. They went to place after place after place, from the beach to restaurants to her old Aether Paradise home, where memories lay buried deep within the charming aesthetic of the home (good and bad, although she didn’t want to remember those.)

And then Nebby teleported them deep into the halls of Aether Paradise and Ash went from laughing in pleasant conversation with Lillie to freezing and looking around, tense and alert. He didn’t _like it here._ Everything in his body was telling him that this was bad. The halls were dimly lit and dark and empty. The air was cold and stale, dusty and old. He found it hard to breathe. Lillie was confused.

“We’re not allowed to come in here without an adult from Aether Paradise. I don’t know why we’re here— I’ve never been here before. Why would Nebby take us here?”

But had she?

Chills ran up and down his spine and made his hair stand on end. He shivered. They weren’t _alone._ He looked around, anxious, but couldn’t spot anyone else. He closed his eyes. Who was it?

It was creepy. He could _feel_ the person there. There was malice radiating off of their being and they were behind him, weaving among the halls and remaining unseen.

Oh.

It was _Faba._

Suddenly he heard Lillie make a noise and he felt her fear and he opened his eyes and Faba was coming from behind and he couldn’t even say a warning before there was a Hypno in his face and attacking him and then he was _distracted_ because then Lillie was gone and calling for him.

Why was Faba after Lillie?

He ran after them and couldn’t help looking around the room more, and the room was chillingly empty— despite the fact that there were people there— it felt like the room was a vacuum, sucking everything _living_ out of it.

Evil things happened here.

Things that weren’t supposed to happen.

Everything was dimly lit and tinted green, and the green twisted into the green he saw in Lusamine’s eyes, an evil lime green glow that left his heart pounding and his fists clenching.

Green like Faba.

Fitting.

He chased after Faba and Lillie, dodging attacks from the Hypno, and then suddenly they’d stopped and he screeched to a halt, Pikachu and Nebby at his heels. What were they _doing?_ Lillie looked angry and terrified and he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. He only heard a little bit, but he was confused by what he did hear. He wanted to erase Lillie’s memories? 

Did he think she’d remembered?

And he wanted her to _forget?_

What had _happened?_

He was about to run and help, an order for Pikachu to attack on his tongue, before the Hypno used Psychic to pin him to the ground and no matter how much he struggled he couldn’t move anything and he _hated_ how helpless he felt. The helplessness he felt here was like the helplessness he felt when held in Drapion’s tight, suffocating claws and spitting in J’s face, trying to put on a strong persona and wishing with everything that he could just punch her. It was the same helplessness he felt when he watched Cyrus commit suicide, plunging himself into a world that he knew would kill him but he didn’t care, too absorbed in his dream of a New World.

It was the same helplessness he felt watching Lysandre throw himself off the top of Lumiose tower, pride and obsession wild in his eyes.

He couldn’t _move_ and he wanted to scream in frustration.

Hypno used Psychic to move Lillie up into the air and then Gladion and Lusamine were there, too, suddenly. Silvally was out and ready to fight and he could see Lillie tear up with fear at the sight of it. The fear in Lillie’s eyes broke his heart to pieces. The fear in Lillie’s eyes was the same ice cold fear that crept into his throat, freezing him to the spot, choking him, making him want to die right then and there, that he felt when looking Hunter J in the eyes as she turned manic and insane. When she went _mad_ with the power that he possessed, willing to _murder_ to get to him. The same fear he felt when he watched her throw her head back and laughed and laughed and laughed, blood trailing down her face, eyes wide and crazy. Back then, he was absolutely frozen.

That was the fear he saw in Lillie’s eyes at the sight of Silvally.

-.-.-.-

“I don’t like that she and Ash are friends. Together, they pose a threat to all that I have worked for. Faba, do you understand this?”

He nodded.

“I need both of them separately, but because of Ash, Lillie has started to be able to touch Pokemon. I’m afraid that she’s starting to remember and we can’t have that, can we?”

A pause. And then, “Yes, Lusamine.”

“What’s worse,” she continued, venom entering her tone, sounding out of place and at the same time never more fitting, “Lillie is starting to trust me less and less. I can tell, and it’s _his_ fault!”

Her voice was rising, a rare moment where her composure, so tightly controlled and flaunted, perfectly sweet and innocent, was lost. “It’s _his_ fault, he doesn’t trust me— though he should!— and he’s influenced her not to trust me either. He’s a bad influence, but I _need_ him, too.”

Her quickly rising anger was suddenly quelled and she scoffed, a pleased and yet bitter sound. “Of course, we need to separate them and gain Lillie’s trust again. I need the boy’s trust as well. And we need her to forget. If she started to remember, then it would ruin _everything_ we’ve worked so carefully to piece together about that night. Faba,” she smiled, wide and full of too-straight pearly white teeth, too fake and strained to be anything but false, “you know what to do, correct? I need you to get Lillie, erase her memory, and you will be decoy. In their eyes, I will be the hero, the savior, and you alone will be the villain.”

The man nodded, his grin morphing into a sly smirk that wouldn’t seem misplaced on the face of a gleeful, sadistic child about to kill a baby Oricorio.

“Good. Now follow through. Do _not_ mess this up,” and here, her smile widened even more, her eyes angry and issuing a silent threat, “or there will be consequences.”

-.-.-.-

Suddenly, the air itself bent and rippled like fabric, and then it _ripped_ in the same manner. It opened wide to a dark depth so deep and black it seemed to suck the light out of the room. Out came… _something_ so horrible Ash knew it would occupy his nightmares for weeks.

It looked like a Tentacruel (which gave him chills as it was. He always hated those things, with their long tentacles and slimy feeling and hostile eyes, but Misty liked them a whole lot, so he’d tried to quell his fear as best he could) but it was purple and _floating_ and then it was grabbing hold of Lillie and he didn’t think he’d ever hear a shriek so piercing come from her. He didn’t think it was possible for her to look even _more scared,_ but she did, and it was trying to take her into the portal it had opened!

The _thing_ was terrifying and Ash found himself freezing up the same way Lillie was. The room darkened, a shadowy vignette creeping at the edges of his vision and although he _knew_ it wasn’t real, he heard spidery whispers crawling near his ears and whispering that this was going to kill him. They traveled down his spine and rooted his feet to the spot. He felt as though there were physical hands grabbing his throat and choking him, stealing his breath away with the intent to kill.

His eyes happened to go back to Lillie and her own fear and with that he shook off the trance he’d fallen into.

What _was that thing?_

He looked around, for just a second before springing into action. Gladion’s eyes darkened with recognition for the _monster_ and was _this_ the thing that happened? And when his eyes darted to Lusamine, well. Her eyes were fiery and chaotic with desire; her hands were reaching up, as if to grab and hold the floating beast.

There was no worry for her daughter whatsoever and he let his anger at that urge him into fighting, ordering for Pikachu to shoot a Thunderbolt at whatever it was. He did but Faba was there, too, now, with his Hypno holding Lillie in the air and ready to attack him, and so he was forced to focus on that instead. Gladion took the lead, Silvally jumping up to Lillie, until its face was right in hers and she whimpered (he could even hear it from down here, and he wondered if maybe he was sensing it from her too). The Pokemon _chomped_ down on the gelatinous creature and let out a powerful beam of energy that nearly incinerated the thing, forcing it to flee back to the place it came from.

Lillie dropped out of the air like a rag doll and he could tell with a single look that she wasn’t awake anymore. Thankfully, Silvally caught her on its back and then she was safe, on the floor.

He and Gladion both turned to the mad scientist opposite from them, scowling and angry. They attacked him with their Pokemon, and it was _too easy_ to defeat him.

From behind him, he heard Lusamine cry out for Lillie, and the way her voice was filled with fake concern made him tense and whirl around. Lillie was awake, now, and blearily tilted her head to look at her mother, kneeling at Lillie’s side, eyes filled with sympathy and (false) concern.

She was muttering to Lillie, thanking everything that her daughter was okay, and it was _so fake._ Could no one else see it? Wasn’t it obvious?

Lillie’s eyes were filled with such appreciation and relief and _happiness_ at seeing her mother. He wanted to throw up and cry, because Lillie looked so goddamn amazed like hugging her was the _best thing_ Lusamine had done for her. That was the _bare minimum_ and she’d just been _kidnapped_ and Lusamine was her _mother_ and the concern was so _fake._

Worse, while Lusamine’s eyebrows were knit with concern and there were tears streaming down her face, her eyes were fiery and _furious._

She looked like a child who was about to throw a tantrum.

Like a bully, who played nice around the adults but as soon as there was no threat of repercussion, revealed their true, ugly nature.

She hugged her daughter, tighter and tighter, until she was _crying_ now, and Lillie, softly and kindly, murmured “Mother? Are you alright?”

Lusamine, with her Krokorok tears, just sobbed harder and said “I’m _so_ glad you’re okay, Lillie, darling, I was so worried!”

And here, beside him, Gladion clenched his fists. He’d _been_ with Lusamine, and she’d shown no concern at all for her daughter. She’d forgotten that Lillie had even been traumatized that night by _her doing!_ She was _there!_

How could she forget? Did she really care that little for her children?

Lusamine’s eyes turned onto Faba, hard and furious (here, beneath her deceptive anger, was _real_ frustration, because he had _failed_ to actually erase Lillie’s memories). “Faba, how _dare you?_ This is my _family_ and you are my subordinate! You deserve to be punished!”

She stood up, about to deal with Faba herself, but then (almost too easily) he ordered his Hypno to teleport him away and escape.

She growled, and shouted after him “Faba, wait—!”

But he was gone, and it was too late.

Like it was rehearsed, she fell to the ground, more tears erupting from her eyes. And Lillie, oh, naive Lillie, called after her mother, still too weak to get up, “Mother, it’s alright! See? I’m okay!”

And Lusamine crawled over to her daughter, again, and hugged her tight, and whispered that she _loved_ her daughter, and Lillie looked so _amazed,_ surprised, and happy— and it was heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking, because Ash could see how fake it was.

It was heartbreaking, because Lillie looked like she’d never heard those words before.

Gladion looked happy, too— not as happy as his sister, because he knew, on the surface, that Lusamine was lying. But on some level, he still held the childish hope that Lusamine really _did_ care, deep down, deep _deep_ down. He’d run away and left Lillie behind, and so he had the foolish hope that his sister had the better life, staying behind with his mother (if that wasn’t true, then, wasn’t he just the worst brother Lillie could have ever had the rotten luck of getting?

And wasn’t he just like Lusamine, then?

Wasn’t he just like his father, then, who disappeared into thin air, abandoning their family, and driving Lusamine _insane?_

He guessed, then, that no matter how hard he tried, how far he ran away, no matter how different he was, the apple never fell far from the tree.)

He knew, really though, as he’d always known, as he’d known when he’d run away (why else would he have run, in the first place, if Lusamine was a good mother?), that Lusamine didn’t even _raise_ her. She didn’t even say _hi,_ and Hobbes was left to take care of a little girl while Lusamine sat by, blissfully ignorant, in her perfect desk in her perfect Aether _Paradise._

And, oh _no,_ Lillie was _crying_ because her mother was showing her the tiniest shred of love, genuine or not.

It made him sick.

And then, Lillie was up, now, and cheering, because she _remembered_ what happened that night! And she…wasn’t scared? At her exclamation, before she had time to explain, Lusamine’s expression went from counterfeit warmth to steely cold instantaneously.

If it was possible for her to be angrier, she was.

Ash tried not to focus on it, wanting to hear more from his friend, and she joyfully exclaimed that Silvally hadn’t hurt her, it had _saved_ her from the _monster,_ which is why she’d been so afraid.

And then Pikachu jumped up on her, as did Snowy, and Nebby, and she didn’t flinch. She hugged them back, laughing and crying and so relieved that it pushed out all the remaining worries in Ash’s mind. She could _touch Pokemon!_ He was so proud of her!

She was so relieved and happy, and this time it looked right on her face, like it was always supposed to be there, the kind of purity and joy that came from achievement and relief— not the type of toxic dependency that came from waiting so long for even a simple “I love you” from her mother.

Lusamine pressed her more, asking if there was anything else she remembered. She remembered Gladion. She remembered Faba.

“Was there anyone else? Lillie, I want to know, because I need to punish Faba for this!”

“I don’t remember anyone else, Mother.”

Lusamine, though good at masks, found it hard to conceal as she slumped back in relief.

Gladion looked conflicted. He hadn’t missed Lusamine’s behavior.

And he very clearly remembered her being there.

_Why_ didn’t she want Lillie to remember?

Ash didn’t miss it, either, and he was confused.

He did know, however, that it was getting easier and easier to see through Lusamine’s chicanery, and he didn’t like what was underneath all the layers and layers of syrupy-sweet sugar.

It was bitter, angry, and vile.

Not for the first time, and _certainly_ not for the last, he had to fight the urge to bolt away from her.

He wanted to tell Lillie that her mother was lying. They were honest with each other.

And wouldn’t it be better? To know now, and not be hurt later?

But what could he say? _Hey Lillie, I know you’re just starting to trust your mom, and she told you she loved you, and isn’t that great, and by the way, she’s lying and she probably hates you. Also, she’s probably evil. Anyway, have a good day!_

That wouldn’t go over well.

And besides, what if he was wrong? He could see Lusamine’s malicious intent so clearly beneath her lies but no one else seemed like they could. What if he was reading it wrong? What if he was just so messed up from everything that had happened to him? What if he was hardened to the world?

What if, because Lusamine held some resemblance to the behavior of Hunter J, he was terrified of being hurt again?

Was he really that _selfish?_ To take Lillie’s relationship with her mother away just for some hunch of his?

He’d been wrong before, anyway.

What if he was becoming hardened to the world, just like Cyrus, and couldn’t even stand to watch a happy family reunion?

He didn’t want to become so apathetic to love.

He didn’t say anything.

He’d talk to Lillie later, maybe.

Pikachu looked to Ash, sensing his rising distress, and hopped onto his shoulder, cooing and rubbing their cheeks together.

Lusamine hugged Lillie tight, once more, and looked him straight into the eyes, smiling sweetly to hide the malice encroaching as her gaze sucked him in and he had to fight not to get lost in them.

He shook it off. He had to be wrong, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


	4. A Perfect Mother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it was that, every so often, Lusamine would stride into Lillie’s room at night, a smile on her face (almost real this time), eyes soft and warm, such a contrast to her cold steeliness hidden behind a sweet smile. She would come, and she would sit next to Lillie, and she would stroke her hair, braiding and unbraiding it, and hug Lillie so tightly, like she was the only thing in the world.
> 
> She told Lillie that she loved her.
> 
> “Lillie, I am your mother, right?”
> 
> “Of course you are, Mother.”
> 
> “And you are my daughter.”
> 
> “Yes.”
> 
> “We’re family. We love each other. We’re happy together, right, just us two?”
> 
> She so desperately wanted to say yes, to melt into her mother’s embrace and stay there, warm and soft and content forever. But at the same time, it always nagged at the back of her mind. And if there was ever a time to ask, it was now, when her mother actually loved her.
> 
> “Mother?”
> 
> “Yes, Lillie?”
> 
> “What happened to Gladion? Why did he disappear? Why don’t we ever talk about him?”
> 
> Lusamine’s stroking immediately stilled and stopped, her hands gripping unconsciously to Lillie’s hair, pulling it. She tried not to cringe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! A little later than expected, but it's 10,000 words long! Fair warning, there's some touchy things in this chapter. There's some really sketchy parent-child relationships here-- emotional manipulation, a whole lot of neglect, and I would even go so far as to say emotional abuse. Be careful.
> 
> You're gonna hate Lusamine after this.
> 
> But please. Be kind in your criticism, of me, of her, because I'm doing this for mine and your enjoyment.
> 
> (also there's an f-bomb in here, but not nearly as bad as some of the later chapters of Rare.)

They got back onto Melemele Island and he’d never seen Lillie happier. He’d taken out all his Pokemon for her to touch and play with and talk to and she just looked so _happy_ but this was right, it made him really happy too.

Thankfully, thankfully, Lusamine had not followed them back. She had given Lillie one last parting hug and told them to look out for Faba. Most likely, he would strike again. If it happened, Lillie was to immediately call her mother so that Lusamine could deal with it. Ash didn’t like being on the sidelines. He knew that he was going to be there to help Lillie, no matter what.

(Besides, he thought, he’s one of the best to deal with this sort of thing, what with the experience he’s had.)

Pikachu was on Lillie’s head, squeaking happily, and Nebby was in her arms, and she looked so content that he couldn’t bare to see it ruined. He hoped it wouldn’t be.

They went back to the school. Everyone was worried about them, the next day (Kukui was not someone to trifle with when he thought Ash or any of his students were in danger, going full Papa Ursaring.) but when Lillie showed them her new ability, they were all overjoyed for her. Everything seemed back to normal, save for that Ash was jumpier than usual. He kept looking behind him, feeling like someone was there, feeling like if he looked away for a second something would happen too fast for him to react and come to the rescue.

He glanced over. Lillie seemed similar. Even underneath her obvious joy and the way everyone circled around her, happy, and still slightly worried, she would glance out of the corner of her eyes, and when someone clapped her on the shoulder, she jumped. Ash winced. That’s where Faba had grabbed her. Surely it must hurt, at least a little bit. Men like him tended to have a stronger grip then expected.

They were outside, playing with Pokemon, when he felt the same slimy aura from before. His head whipped around to the bushes, squinting. He couldn’t quite see, but he knew Faba was there. He had to be, right?

But then there was no more movement, and maybe lying awake last night, tense, hadn’t been the wisest choice for Ash.

A second time, though, he looked over, and then he _saw_ Faba, out in the open and reaching for Nebby. He shouted, and ran, but then it was too late, and Faba ordered “Take me to Aether Paradise!” And Nebby, never one for following orders, teleported him _somewhere._ Ash had to hope it was there, because otherwise he’d lost Nebby and it was all his fault.

He shouted, angrily now, but he was too late, and then Lillie was at his side, and then Professor Kukui, and the rest of his friends, but he was still too late.

_Nebby._ Faba had first gotten Lillie, and now he’d gotten Nebby. He should’ve been more careful. He should’ve known that Aether wasn’t going to just let him walk away with Nebby, should’ve known that _no_ wasn’t enough.

Maybe Lunala and Solgaleo shouldn’t have trusted him with Nebby, if it was so easily stolen out of his grasp while he was having _fun._

And then people were asking what happened, and he was roused out of his self-pity (when did he start falling into that so easily? It was pathetic. He needed to change that. He needed a clear head for what was ahead, because he _knew_ this still wasn’t the big thing that had been coming.

No, that was Lusamine.)

But he and Lillie called Lusamine, and she answered the video phone, worried but not as surprised as she should’ve been (he ignored how Lillie’s worry melted away, for just a second, at the sight of her mother’s face.) There was something vaguely wrong about all of this, he didn’t like it. She told them that she’d get them to Aether Paradise, and to wait.

Ash hated waiting. He could never sit still normally, let alone when he was stressed. He paced and paced, walking back and forth and back and forth, and clenched his fists. His aura was threatening to explode out of him, and he hated that even with how much he’d trained himself to control it, his emotions too easily got out of hand and when he wasn’t in his right mind, it didn’t matter how much training he had— it would come out one way or another. He just hoped it wasn’t in front of anyone dangerous.

Especially not her.

Soon enough, though, there was a private jet landing down in front of the school and then Gladion was there. He knew, already what had happened. He’d expected it. Ash wondered how far Gladion and Faba went back.

Lillie ran up to him, and no one missed how he fell back, just a little, slightly averse. Lillie looked a little hurt, but she didn’t let it phase her. He was coming along. He didn’t want her to come along, but she didn’t care. She was strong now, stronger than she was when she was little, and he was surprised. A smirk came onto his face, just a little impressed by his sister.

Maybe she wasn’t quite like the Little Miss Perfect their mother had tried to raise her to be.

-.-.-.-

Lusamine stood in front of the mirror, styling her hair with the same care she always did, with her fancy brushes and product. She carefully pulled it back, taking her deep green emerald (green, like her eyes) and weaving it within the strands of her bleach-blond hair. She hummed an eerie little tune, staring deep into her eyes, in her own world.

She really loved her eyes. They were green like life, like gemstones, like the green grass of Aether Paradise, crisp and clean like the tiled floors of a lab.

They were pure, and beautiful, like she was.

She smiled, with only eyes for herself.

An annoying tug on her dress. She’d been ignoring it (barely noticed it, at all. She had practice disregarding it) but after the tenth time, it was taking more effort than usual to keep the pleasant smile on her face. She turned her head down sharply, annoyed.

“What _is_ it?”

A little girl, the spitting image of her mother, stared up at her. She held a smile on her face (an ugly, annoying, smile. Why were children so _pathetic?)_ She wore a white sundress and a white hat upon her hair, and if not for the green in her own eyes, she would’ve blended into the pristine white of the bathroom tiles, pale and slight.

She looked excited, and Lusamine couldn’t imagine _what for._ Lillie followed her like a Lilipup on a leash, hanging on her every word and every step (it was fortunate, then, that Lusamine loved the sound of her own voice so much). They had the same routine every day. Lusamine walked around, staring into her reflection, at the way her eyes glistened, at the way her smile looked so sweet, practicing her pleasantries, admiring the way her curves showed in her dress, twirling and staring into the mirror for the better part of an hour before she even considered getting ready. She would take care and time in styling her hair, applying her makeup, pausing frequently to ogle at herself in the reflective glass.

Lillie, every day without fail, would sit there, quiet, watching her, patient and smiling. What was her _problem?_

Maybe she was just as enamored by her mother’s beauty, wanting to stare and admire and never forget the way she was so beautiful.

Lillie giggled, and her teeth showed, the two front ones missing, which made Lusamine cringe. How was her daughter the spitting image of her, and yet so _ugly?_

“Mother, could you do my hair, too?”

As _if._

“Not now, Lillie, can’t you see I’m busy? I’m always busy. Run along and stop bothering me,” and she smiled now, remembering to appear pleasant, “alright, sweetie?”

Lillie pouted, for only a second, before she straightened, gave a dainty little nod, and ran off. Pouting was ugly. Little girls were supposed to be prim and proper, smiling (but not too wide) and beautiful.

All she wanted to do was run around and play with her brother, sometimes, but she wasn’t supposed to be so rough.

All she wanted to do, then, was spend time with her mother and learn how to be _really_ pretty, like the woman she looked up to (physically and emotionally), but she never taught her how. She supposed she’d have to learn by watching. That was fine. She was good at watching.

She skipped out of the room, over to her brother, asking to play. Gladion laughed at her, teasing, but relented. They had fun, and she wasn’t sure how much time passed (too long) before Lusamine finally emerged from the bathroom. To Lillie, she looked the same as she’d looked the last time she saw her, but she must have added more makeup, right? Else, why would she have spent so long? (That was a stupid question, Lillie knew, really, she’d seen herself how long the woman could admire herself without another thought).

She caught her mother’s eye and begged to be brought along. It was the weekend, today! Couldn’t they do something together, as a family?

She fell back, just as quickly, though, when her mother continued on as though she hadn’t been heard. That was fine, though, because mothers did that when they were annoyed with their daughters. Lillie knew that much. She was smart.

They were happy, once, even when her mother ignored her, even when she felt lonely, sometimes. They were happy. She played with Gladion. When her mother was in a particularly good mood, or when Lillie looked pretty enough today, they would play together! They would go to the beach, smiling, and laughing, and making her favorite memories. She loved her little family! It was perfect!

Especially when her dad was there. She didn’t remember much of him. He faded from her memories, a distant smell, a note in the air, that faded as soon as she thought to think about it.

He was like a dream; the more she tried to remember him, the more she forgot.

Had he ever really been there at all?

Instead, her happiest, earliest memories held the smiling (those she remembered the most) faces of her mother, and when that smile was directed down at her, fond and adoring, it felt as though the sun itself melted her heart, warm on her skin, laughter like music in her ears. Her mother’s smile was like the sweetest vanilla ice cream on the hottest day. And Gladion, wrestling with him and splashing him in the seawater, building sandcastles, playing with the Pokemon, and sneaking out to stare at the stars way past their bedtime.

But then everything went wrong. Lillie was happy with her family, one day, and the next, everything was different. She was sad, and terrified, and she couldn’t touch Pokemon. She didn’t know why. Suddenly, the world, though never perfect, which had been bright and sunny and warm was cold, pale, and unforgiving. Her mother’s rare smiles trained towards her, instead of feeling like a blessing when they happened, felt like rare solaces in the shelter of a storm, few and far between. She grew angrier at the lack of them in her life.

She didn’t know what normal was— if she was normal, or not— because the only people in her life were Gladion and her mother (and the people where her mother worked, but she didn’t really count them). It had never been a problem before, for her, but she suddenly wished she knew other kids her age. Though her mother didn’t let her watch much TV (“It hurts your eyes, gives you wrinkles at too young an age. Besides, you shouldn’t be lazing around. Don’t get fat.”) in the programs she was allowed to see, she remembered the children having friends ( _friends_?).

When she followed her mother around, now, instead of seeing a dazzling woman, akin to a goddess, perfect and beautiful in the mirror, she saw a woman who cared far too much about herself and far too little about her daughter.

Lillie was right _here!_

“Mother, could you please do my hair, too?”

There wasn’t a response. Her mother glanced down at her, sure, so she knew that she’d heard it. But she didn’t acknowledge it.

A little more insistently, “Mother, could you please do my hair, too?”

Lusamine’s smile widened before tightening, and Lillie could tell, now, that was a sign that her mother was Not Happy. “Lillie, how many times do I have to tell you? Not _now.”_

“But you never—!”

A _sharp_ and loud inhale from her mother, piercing enough to interrupt her pleading. Lusamine’s jaw was tight and her eyes weren’t so pretty anymore. She exhaled. “Lillie, what did I say?”

She knew when to submit. She looked down, ashamed. “I should always listen to you, Mother. No means no. I apologize.”

She looked at Lillie in the mirror, though didn’t fully meet her eyes. She never met her eyes anymore. Her smile was fake. “That’s right. Now leave.”

Her head still ducked in shame, she ran as fast as she could while still moving gracefully enough for her mother.

It happened more. It was hard to get her mother’s attention, and even harder to get her praise. She tried, and she tried, but nothing seemed to work. Worse, Gladion was getting colder and more distant too, angry all the time. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but there was a rift growing between her brother and her mother. When they thought she couldn’t hear, they screamed at each other, angry and fighting, and all she could do was bury her head in her pillow and cry. All she wished for was a Pokemon to comfort her, that she could hold and touch and cry into ( _Cleffa!)_

All she wished for was her mother back, her _real_ family back. She didn’t know what happened that night but she wished she did. If she did, maybe she could figure out what was _wrong_ with her.

It was hard to even understand what Gladion was screaming at his mother and what she screamed back (Lillie hated what her mother’s voice sounded like, loud and shrill and furious and violent. It was bad enough when it was strained and fake nice.

Lillie did not want to know what Gladion was doing to get her mother to actually get mad, to throw off her facade.

It must have been really bad.)

When she could pick up some words, she didn’t understand. “You’re _obsessed!….”_ He yelled, amongst a mix of other unintelligible words. Lusamine _screamed_ at him, and it hurt her ears even though she was rooms away, even though they were downstairs and she was up and hidden, her mother’s anger seemed to be able to shatter even the strongest walls, chasing after her like a predator on the hunt. “ _I’m doing this for us…!”_

Lillie decided she didn’t want to know what they were arguing about.

It got worse. Her brother barely hung around her anymore at all, and he looked at her like she was something so fragile he didn’t want to break her. In the rare moment he and Lusamine found themselves in the same room with her, sparks flew and a _growl_ arose in Gladion’s throat.

Then he was gone. One day, he just up and vanished. The fight that night had been particularly loud, piercing her ears so much she was crying up in her own room, and there was stomping, and then it was like he just vanished into thin air.

Lusamine wouldn’t even _acknowledge it,_ acting like she’d never even _had_ a son in the _first place!_ She would try to make Lillie think she was _crazy_ for remembering, for asking about Gladion. She tried, and tried, and whenever she did, Lusamine got _angry,_ and she was so terrified of that now, because she didn’t want those ear-piercing screams of fury turned on her.

So, apparently, she didn’t have a brother anymore. Now it was just Lillie and Lusamine, but they weren’t much of family anymore. Lusamine didn’t act like family, didn’t act like how she used to. As far as Lusamine was concerned, Lillie wasn’t really there either.

As far as Lusamine was concerned, she wasn’t really a mother.

She looked at Lillie sometimes, and she talked to her. Lillie was twelve, now, and she was more concerned with what she looked like (not that she hadn’t always been. How could she not be, when every day without fail for most of her childhood, she watched as her mother stared, hours, obsessed, into a mirror). She didn’t like that some of that obsession was rubbing off on her. She stared, wondering what was wrong with her. _She_ thought she was sort of pretty, in a kid-like way, right?

Lusamine walked into her bathroom without so much of a knock (not that she expected anything different). Lillie was only surprised because of her mother’s appearance in the first place. She walked up to where Lillie was braiding some of her hair and took it into her own hands. She paused. “Oh, Lillie, your hair…it’s pretty, but…it’s so coarse. When did that happen to you?”

She didn’t know how to answer that. She always wished her hair wasn’t so thin, so that it could look big and pretty like her mother’s. When Lusamine finished braiding her daughter’s hair (she was surprisingly gentle, here, but it was a bit uncertain, like she wasn’t quite sure how to treat a child. Like Lillie was fragile.)

After that, Lillie put on a hat, and she was ready to go. “Oh, Lillie, you’re not going to put on any makeup? You need it, to fix whatever’s going on here. You’ll look so pretty in it!”

When Lusamine said things like that, it confused her. Was she happy? Was she angry? She complimented while at the same time insulting her looks. It left her spinning and dazed.

Lusamine put makeup on Lillie, and by the end, she didn’t look much different. Even if it took the better part of an hour (to be fair, there were quite a few pauses. It was like Lusamine couldn’t _not_ look at herself.) she looked the same as last time, albeit with a rosier complexion and as though she’d gotten a really good night’s sleep. “There, you look much better!”

She smiled, here, because this seemed like a true compliment. She hadn’t gotten a lot of those before.

“Lillie, is that what you’re wearing?”

…It wasn’t much different from what she always wore, what was wrong with it?

“We need to get you something more slimming. Darling, what have you been _eating?”_

Oh. She thought she’d been fine with how she looked, constantly comparing herself to her mother. Besides, the last time she’d been to the doctor, they’d been concerned. Apparently, she needed to eat more.

At this time, Hobbes had joined them. Hobbes took her to the doctor (because Lusamine would never.)

Once Lusamine had deemed Lillie satisfying, she left the room, walking at a brisk pace. Lillie sat there, alone and pondering. On the one hand, she was giddy. Her mother had actually spent more than an hour paying attention to only _her!_ She’d finally done her hair, after so many times asking, and it looked beautiful! Lillie was _beautiful._

On the other hand, she felt worse about herself. How she looked, how her hair felt, how her face looked. She thought she’d been fine before. She _liked_ how she looked. Apparently, though, that confidence had been misplaced. Clearly she wasn’t beautiful (in her mother’s eyes, at least, which was all that mattered) without makeup and her hair and the perfect outfit.

She _must_ be more careful.

The next time Lillie wanted her mother’s attention, she was feeling particularly lonely. Hobbes had the holiday off, and she was alone. Wasn’t Christmas supposed to be a time of joy, with family and friends?

Lillie didn’t have any friends. Her only family was Lusamine (she never forgot about Gladion, of course, but her mother had removed all pictures with him in them. She was insistent on pretending he’d never been there at all.)

And so she wanted some sort of celebration. She felt lonely and sad, and she’d been crying. She knew her face was splotchy and red, and she was _ugly_ but she didn’t care, at this point. She needed her mother, but she was heading off to Aether Paradise. _Why,_ she had no idea, considering it was a holiday and there was no work going on.

(Perhaps, then, she was just going so she could avoid Lillie).

“Mother! Hello,” and she fought the odd urge to curtsy, here, as though her mother was royalty, “I was wondering, could we do some sort of celebration for Christmas? Could we spend time together, please?”

Barely a glance. She was purposefully ignoring Lillie, but the girl didn’t let that phase her. “Mother, did you hear me? Please, can we do something?”

Nothing. 

“Mother, why are you going to Aether Paradise? No one else will be there!”

Nothing. Her mother was grabbing a light coat (although it was never cold in Alola, not really) and was about to open the door.

“Mother! Why don’t you ever listen to me?!”

She was yelling, now, and Lusamine again glanced backwards towards her, but just for a moment.

Something arose in Lillie, something foreign and bitter (something not unlike her mother, when she was angry). It was spite. It was anger. She ran up into her mother’s face, blocking the door. “ _Mother!_ Listen to me! Stop! Why do you ignore me? Do you hate me?”

Barely a pause. She couldn’t get around Lillie, so she started going to the back door. Nothing? Nothing at all? Was she _deaf?_

_“Mother!_ ” and she about screamed (her voice shrill like her mother’s when her and Gladion fought), stomping her foot. “What happened to Gladion? Why do you _insist_ on pretending like he was never here? What _happened?!”_

This gave Lusamine pause, and she stopped for a second. She didn’t turn, but her fists clenched before she was again moving.

Lillie didn’t know what came over her. She was suddenly so _angry,_ angrier than she’d ever been (and whenever she did get irritated, she always, always pushed it down, terrified of becoming like her mother.). What made Lillie _deserve_ to be treated this way?

There was a flower vase by the door. Without really thinking, she took it and threw it at her mother. Even though she wasn’t looking, Lusamine dodged it gracefully. Lillie wanted to scream. She ran towards the Christmas tree (Hobbes had helped her put it up) and used all of her strength to tear it down. She ran towards Lusamine, pushing her, hitting her, but Lusamine moved swiftly to remove herself and before Lillie realized, she was gone.

Tears sprung to her eyes, angry and hot and _desperate,_ and in a last-ditch attempt to make her mother _notice_ her, _somehow,_ she wrecked the house. She let her anger carry her into a fit of rage, crying, throwing pillows everywhere, breaking plates, slamming doors, kicking around the ornaments on the ground. She went to everything she could and tried to mess it up, wanting to scream and wail and cry, wanting _someone_ to hear, but she was all alone in the house, and there was no one to witness her tantrum except her.

With a sudden jolt, she realized she was entirely _alone_ in here. There was no one to see the mess, no one to care about any of this. Everything felt so hopeless, all of a sudden, all cold and empty and _aching,_ heart pounding. With each loud beat, her mind screamed at her. _Alone, alone, alone._ So utterly alone.

She wanted to _scream._ She did, pulling on her hair, sobbing and running around, curling into a ball, slamming into things, so desperate and hopeless that she barely had control over herself anymore. The sobs were big, and ugly, and choking, and loud, and they wracked her whole body, and she must be so _ugly,_ and that was all that was in her mind. Her mother would disapprove of this (not because she cared about Lillie, not even that she was all that perturbed about the mess she’d made. No, she would hate the noise. She would hate that something so _vile_ had found itself in her (no longer pristine) home. She would _hate_ that she was the _mother_ to such an ugly sight.

She would _hate_ that her vision of a perfect family wasn’t everything she wanted it to be (not that it ever had been. Lusamine made sure of that.))

She laid there, not knowing how long, in a puddle of angry tears, lonely and desperate and never wanting to move again.

_Merry Christmas, Lillie_ , she thought bitterly.

Hobbes came back the next day and was horrified by what he saw. Lillie felt guilty (only because Hobbes was the one who had to clean it up, not her mother). Lusamine came back, too, and she saw the house, and Lillie felt something like pride well in her, seeing her mother pause for just a moment, surveying the damage she’d done, and looking at Lillie, before she pasted on a smile and continued on as though she hadn’t seen any of it and Lillie’s satisfaction immediately turned into anger.

Lillie never used to be angry. Now, she felt like it was there, all the time, even though she was always nice and polite (like her mother taught her), especially with Hobbes.

Lusamine grew colder. She would get ready for Aether, still staring in the mirror. Lillie grew angrier. She threw fits, she broke plates (before she realized that her mother didn’t care and she was only hurting Hobbes, sweet Hobbes). Then she realized that if she wanted Lusamine to care, she had to hit her where it hurt. She went into her mother’s bathroom and into her makeup. She resisted the sudden temptation to use it to make herself look beautiful. Instead, she smashed everything she could, breaking it until it was beyond repair. Maybe _this_ would make Lusamine pay attention to her.

She’d long grown past caring if the attention was good or bad.

She waited with some sort of glee, for her mother to come out, angry, or sad, or _something_ to break through the cool mannequin-like pasted-on smile that she’d grown used to.

Instead, she heard nothing. Lusamine strode out of the bathroom, as proud as ever, with slightly less makeup and slightly messier hair.

It made Lillie just want to give up, right then and there.

Sometimes, Lillie wondered if her mother even remembered her name.

Lillie grew to dislike her mother, and even wanted to hate her, but there was something in her that always kept her from doing it. Maybe she was clinging to the memory of her happy family, of her and Gladion and Mother and the sunshine on her skin and laughing her heart out, so full of joy it felt as though it would burst. Maybe she was clinging to the memory of her mother softly braiding her hair, doing her makeup, and making her look pretty.

Maybe it was that, every so often, Lusamine would stride into Lillie’s room at night, a smile on her face (almost real this time), eyes soft and warm, such a contrast to her cold steeliness hidden behind a sweet smile. She would come, and she would sit next to Lillie, and she would stroke her hair, braiding and unbraiding it, and hug Lillie so tightly, like she was the only thing in the world for her mother, and yet also as though she was the most fragile. Like she was a precious jewel. Lusamine would put her cheek on Lillie’s blond hair, humming, speaking softly and sweetly and so genuinely that it made Lillie forget everything else. She stroked her skin, and her cheeks, as though she was really very little.

She told Lillie that she loved her.

“Lillie, I am your mother, right?”

“Of course you are, Mother.”

“And you are my daughter.”

“Yes.”

“We’re family. We love each other. We’re happy together, right, just us two?”

She so desperately wanted to say yes, to melt into her mother’s embrace and stay there, warm and soft and content forever. But at the same time, it always nagged at the back of her mind. And if there was ever a time to ask, it was now, when her mother actually loved her.

“Mother?”

“Yes, Lillie?”

“What happened to Gladion? Why did he disappear? Why don’t we ever talk about him?”

Lusamine’s stroking immediately stilled and stopped, her hands gripping unconsciously to Lillie’s hair, pulling it. She tried not to cringe. She didn’t dare to move, hoping the moment would pass, and it did, after a minute.

“…Lillie,” she started, her sweet voice rather forced, “why do you ask?”

“I miss my brother, Mother.”

“Gladion, he…” and this was a rare moment where Lusamine didn’t deny his existence, “he had some…different ideas than I do. We…didn’t get along, not like you and I do. He couldn’t handle being with us anymore. He ran away. He _left_ us. He left our family. He _left_ you, Lillie, don’t you understand? Family doesn’t do that. Family doesn’t leave you.”

Lillie wanted to laugh, bitterly.

“He left you, Lillie. I’m trying to protect you from him. Clearly he didn’t love us, he wasn’t _worth it…_ Lillie, look at me.”

She turned her daughter’s face to face hers, and she met her eyes, now, for the first time in a long time. Lillie found it hard not to be distracted by the depth, by the _beauty_ of her mother’s eyes. “…You won’t ever leave me, not like Gladion did, right? Not like— like _Mohn_ did. You’re gonna stay and help us make our family whole again, right?”

How could she say no? She’d contemplated running away, a couple times, out of spite for her mother, before realizing that she probably didn’t care.

“Of course I would never leave, Mother. But…you never talk about Father. What happened? Why did he leave?”

She knew she was really on thin ice, here, because Lusamine had never talked about her father, even when they were happy.

“Lillie, your father was _taken_ from us. I am working to get him back. So we can be a _family_ again. So we can be perfect and happy. That’s what I work for. That’s why I’m at work so long, why I have to sacrifice our family. I’m going to make us _whole_ again, and then everything’s going to be okay.”

And then how could she hate her mother, then? How could she hate her mother when she so clearly loved her? How could Lillie hate her mother when Lusamine was trying so hard, sacrificing everything, just for her to be happy again, for them to be a family?

How could she be so _selfish,_ doing everything she did to hurt Lusamine?

And then Lusamine was gone. Lillie had to move onto Melemele in a big mansion with Hobbes, without her mother, to leave her childhood home, and then she never saw her mother anymore. She tried to remind herself that Lusamine was working to keep her happy. She couldn’t help the bitterness, anger, and spite that festered in her heart, though. How could she not?

Slowly, slowly, as time went by and she wasn’t with her mother so much, she wasn’t so angry or heartbroken over her mother anymore. Lusamine grew more distant from her, just as Lillie grew more distant as well. And though it ached, Lillie thought, this really might be better.

Lusamine seemed to forget about Lillie for a bit, and then suddenly remember in the worst and weirdest ways. Instead of trying to call and have a normal conversation with her daughter, she _asked Hobbes to take pictures of Lillie when she wasn’t looking._ She hated it. Lillie never liked being on camera (it just reminded her how ugly she was, compared to her mother), but for her to catch Hobbes trying to take pictures so her mother could spy on her? Why did Lusamine even _want_ those photos?

She called her mother to confront her, and Lusamine, like the woman she was, acted concerned and confused. “But Lillie, I miss you so much! I just want to see what your life is like!”

“Then _Mother,_ just call me! It’s so much easier than being a creep!”

“Oh, Lillie, you’re blowing this way out of proportion! It’s not that big a deal!”

“Mother, if I’m bothered, then it _is!”_

“Where did you get that idea?”

Lusamine’s voice was cold and flat, suddenly. Lillie was immediately shut down, wanting nothing more than to disappear. (What she wanted was to stand up to her mother, to tell her that she was a _person_ whose feelings _mattered._ But she wasn’t the type to stand up to her mother like that anymore. She was nice, sweet, passive Lillie.)

She took a deep breath. “Mother, please stop asking Hobbes to take pictures of me. Call me instead.”

Lusamine’s smile was back. “I’ll try, honey, you know how busy I am,” she said, as she reached for her phone, which was ringing, “but Lillie, don’t think I didn’t notice. _What_ is your posture? You know you’re going to turn into a hunchback if you keep slouching. You know I’m saying that because I love you!”

She smiled and asked Hobbes to end the call.

Her mother continued to ask Hobbes to take pictures, and Lillie caught him a couple times more, each time angrier with her mother.

Lillie went to school and joined a class for the first time. It was awkward, at first, trying to fit in with the others, but soon she was the happiest she’d ever been. She had _friends_ for the first time ever. They made her smile and laugh and they called her beautiful and they hugged her and shared with her. Apparently, all friends were like this.

Lillie didn’t want to know what else she’d missed out on her whole life.

And yet, although her friends made her happy, with each time they surprised her, each time they were nice, she questioned it. Lusamine’s voice crept in, disapproving and snide.

A boy from Kanto with a Pikachu came to Alola, and suddenly her life was even better. He was hyper and kind and warm and he latched onto her. She remembered him offering his hand, after the first time he saw her too scared to touch Pokemon, and smiling kindly, saying “Let’s get through this together. I’ll help you, you help me, okay?”

And then he was there, cheering her on, making her feel more confident than she ever had before. He taught her that it was _okay_ to feel that, and he helped her up until she could stand and thrive on her own. He helped her _touch_ a Pokemon for the first time in a decade, and that brought so much hope that she never wanted to ever go back to how she was before.

Her ability to get better, to touch Pokemon, for her, represented her happiness, her work to get better, to be more independent.

But whenever she touched a Pokemon— the egg, Snowy, Pikachu— all that popped into her head was “Would Mother care?”

Would she care?

She shook her head, she tried to _push_ her mother’s manipulation out of her mind, and she wanted to be rid of her, but it kept intruding, it kept coming up, no matter how much she tried to fight against it.

Lillie had _tried_ to love Lusamine. She had _tried_ and _tried_ and _tried,_ until she was so tired of failing that she gave up and settled for bitter apathy.

With Ash, Lillie heard the first news of Gladion since he’d run away all those years ago. She’d been _so_ eager, wanting to know more and more and more, but she tried to keep up her facade of calm happiness (she guessed that she was more similar to her mother then she cared to be. She had to be good at facades— how else would she have made it through her life so far?)

And then she _saw_ him, and he didn’t really talk to her, avoiding her, but he was _there._ She was hurt, by the way he stayed away, looked almost _scared_ when she got too close. He was cold and steely, so different to the happy-go-lucky little boy she remembered him as. (Maybe, some bitter part of her whispered, Mother was right. Maybe Gladion really did leave them because he hated them. Maybe he really wasn’t her family anymore.)

He talked to Ash, though, she knew, and he always came to school more disgruntled when they did. She didn’t want to ask and he didn’t want to tell, so they didn’t really talk about it. She hoped that, someday, Gladion would actually be okay with letting her talk to him.

She really hoped.

And then, when Lillie met her mother in person again for the first time in a very long time, she barely afforded her a glance, rather immediately focused on Nebby and Ash. It hurt. Ash looked uncomfortable. She didn’t _like_ this.

And then suddenly Lusamine was there, hugging her and invading her space and treating her like a _child_ and it was suffocating. She’d wanted to stand up, almost felt brave enough to do it, but Lusamine was good at communicating so much with so little. She forced Lillie to stand down before she’d even said a word.

She hated it.

Then, though, Nebby teleported her and Ash to see Gladion, and then there was a _thing_ there that _terrified_ her so much she couldn’t breathe or think and everything was cold and she was crying and she didn’t know why and everything felt like it was frozen and stuck and choking. It was like her whole body wasn’t part of her anymore, and all she saw was Gladion’s eyes filling with horror and regret until she was suddenly in the house again and Snowy tried to comfort her but she couldn’t _touch her!_

She couldn’t touch Pokemon anymore. She lost everything that represented her work, her accomplishments, proof that she _was_ better and stronger than she’d always thought she was.

And her and Ash were with Faba and he tried to erase her memory (why?) and then something came out of a portal and tried to grab her and she was terrified and then Gladion’s Pokemon (Silvally, she knew now) _saved_ her and suddenly she remembered everything. She remembered that Silvally hadn’t _hurt_ her, it was the one that saved her.

And then suddenly she could touch Pokemon, all of them, without a struggle at all, and she was so _happy._

And then Lusamine was there, warm and soft and loving, and suddenly it was like every negative feeling Lillie harbored about her mother had disappeared, leaving her only with the aching desire for love and comfort, finally, _finally,_ being fulfilled by her mother. Lusamine whispered, crying, into her hair, so very gently, “I love you,” and her heart broke into a million pieces. She was crying and she was so happy, and she thought that maybe, just maybe, she could trust her mother again.

Maybe, maybe, everything had been a misunderstanding.

Sure, her mother wasn’t always there, but that was life.

Life wasn’t fair.

Surely, everything was looking up now, wasn’t it?

-.-.-.-.-

On the jet, Ash practically _vibrated_ with anxiety, and he couldn’t bring himself to care about the annoyed looks Gladion was giving him. The teenager seemed uncomfortable with how close he was to his sister, and Lillie wanted to know why, _why_ her brother disliked her so.

What had happened with their mother to make him run away? What had they been arguing about, all those years ago?

They were landing down onto the ports of Aether Paradise sooner rather than later, and they all rushed out of the plane, almost running into a startled Lusamine. She looked less than happy to see Gladion. He looked even angrier, immediately scowling when they made eye contact.

It was a wonder that no one else could see how fake Lusamine was, always. (Except maybe Gladion. And, Ash had the sneaking suspicion, Lillie could tell too, but she wanted so, so badly for her mother to actually be the loving parent she claimed she was, that she was willing to look past all the lies if it offered her some distant, temporary semblance of a proper relationship with Lusamine.)

Lusamine seemed worried, and serious, organizing for them to look for Faba. She’d been waiting for them to go and find him. She said that she trusted Ash with Nebby and that he should be the one to save it (as _if.)_

She kept glancing at him, though, and he hated that she always did that, he hated the way it made his skin crawl. She still wasn’t looking all that much at Lillie, but she did smile at her a couple times and Lillie looked positively amazed.

Sickening.

And so they set out, their team of Ash and Lillie and Gladion and Lusamine, searching the halls. Everything felt like a crescendo of dissonant bells in Ash’s mind, that something was _awry,_ that everything was going to go terribly wrong.

It made him want nothing more than to stop right there, curl up and hide. He did stop walking for a moment, too consumed in his own thoughts, but a little pat and question from Pikachu got him moving again before he could gather too much concern (or annoyance) from his companions.

They were walking, and suddenly Ash felt the man again, and he started running, deeper and deeper, ignoring the protests of the others. He had to get there. Something _really bad_ was going to happen here.

_Lysandre_ level bad.

He hoped it wasn’t so.

Finally, in a similar-looking hall to last time (although all the rooms of Aether Paradise were starting to look alike.), he saw Faba. Not only that, the man was smiling, talking (in a self-satisfied falsetto tone much like Xerosic (he supposed, if he compared Lusamine to Lysandre (which was it just his stupid bad thoughts getting in the way?) then Faba would be her Xerosic, wouldn’t he…?) He had Nebby! In a _cage!_ And it was _crying,_ screaming to him for help!

The man turned to the newcomers with a delighted sort of smile (and he was completely unsurprised, as if he’d been expecting them. Maybe he had.) He welcomed them happily, ignoring Nebby’s cries. It was hooked up to some sort of machine. Faba began some sort of monologue, just like all the others, and frankly Ash didn’t _care,_ because all he wanted to do was literally jump up there and punch the stupid man in the stupid face.

Before long, he lunged, but the scientist dodged it faster than Ash thought he could. (For such a beanpole of a man, how was he so agile?) He tried to free Nebby, too, but he couldn’t figure out how to loosen the cage, and then he was pushed off the platform before he realized it. Gladion grabbed him, holding him back. As much as he hated Faba, too, he tilted his head with a sort of urgency over to Lusamine and that clued Ash in that it might be important to listen.

Faba…wanted to use Nebby for the “greater good?” To create an Ultra Wormhole (at which Gladion tensed, harshly, as his head darted over to his mother) and Ash was confused. Was that the thing that got Lillie?

Lusamine was shaking her head no. “Faba, this is wrong. Didn’t you see the destruction it could cause?”

That sounded rehearsed.

“Oh, but _Lusamine!_ I could bring back your husband. I could bring back _Mohn._ You could be a happy family once again. Isn’t that all you’ve been working for, all these years? A happy family, so you could all be together again? I could finally give that to you! _Imagine!”_

Somewhere in her, Lillie’s heart broke. Because that was _all_ she’d ever wanted. The one thing she’d always, _always_ wanted, wishing upon a star, curling up in her room on particularly lonely nights, was a happy family. Mohn was a distant memory. She didn’t care about him.

But maybe, just maybe, if Mohn hadn’t disappeared, Lusamine never would’ve gotten the way she was in the first place. Maybe Gladion wouldn’t have had to leave. Maybe Lusamine wouldn’t have had to sacrifice so much.

A happy family certainly sounded nice.

But she knew, she _knew,_ really, that it wouldn’t change anything. Too much time had already been lost (but things were looking up now, right? Her mother was looking at her with so much love now, and she could reclaim that time! It would be okay!)

And Lusamine’s eyes, then, changed, from protest to a sweet, trancelike desire. If it was all she’d ever wanted, what would stop her from taking the chance now?

“Faba…I couldn’t…”

“But _Lusamine!_ Just think. Remember him. Remember how he was _stolen,_ remember how happy you were together. We could fix that. We could _erase_ it.”

And that was all that was needed (apparently) to convince Lusamine. Real or fake, that was still a mighty fragile argument to bribe her over.

Ash didn’t like it one bit.

“Unfortunately, it seems as though Nebby’s power isn’t enough to open the Wormhole. We need a source of energy…”

And Lusamine looked _straight at Ash._

Her eyes were intense, boring into his.

“Ash…could you…?”

His eyes widened. _What? How could she—?_

“I don’t know…I’m confused, what do you mean?”

“What _do_ you mean, Mother?” Lillie interjected.

“I _mean,_ Ash, that I’ve noticed, that we can all feel it. You’re _special._ You have something, that we talked about. Energy. It could help us achieve this goal.”

He stood there, petrified and unable to deny. How did she possibly know? He tried to ignore the quickly rising terror in his lungs, stealing his breath. What could he _say?_ Clearly he should deny or say no, but either way…

They were all looking at him, either expectantly or confused.

“Lusamine, I don’t know what…”

“Ash, _please._ Think about it. Don’t you care about Lillie? Aren’t you friends?”

“Yes, we are, but—“

“Don’t you want her to have a family? Don’t you want her to be happy?”

She was taking a step closer to him with each question.

“Of course I do!”

“Do you have a dad? Was your dad around?”

He inhaled sharply, and Lusamine knew she’d hit a soft spot.

“Didn’t that _hurt?_ Didn’t that hurt, to not have a dad around then? Didn’t you suffer? Didn’t your mom suffer, having to raise you all on her own?”

“I—!”

“I struggled too, Ash! I didn’t have Mohn, he was _taken!_ And Lillie, like you,” (and she didn’t even mention Gladion), “had to grow up without a father! We could never have a perfect family without him there! That’s all I want for my children! Don’t you want to help us with that?”

He couldn’t even say anything before she cut him off, again. “Or do you just hate us that much, not wanting us to have a happy family? Do you?”

“Mother!” Lillie just about screeched, running towards Ash. “Can’t you see you’re scaring him?”

And suddenly Lusamine fell back, a shocked sort of look on her face, contrite. “Ash, I- I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me, I just— I just _miss_ Mohn so much, you can understand that, can’t you?”

She waited for him to nod.

“So Ash, will you— will you help us? Will you use your _aura?”_

That stole his breath away, again. It terrified him that she knew.

But still.

She’d asked, and although she seemed crazy and unhinged, what if she was just a woman changed by grief? What if that’s all she was, this entire time?

What if she was just like his mother, sometimes, when she got mad at him for putting himself in danger, because she’d already lost one family member and she couldn’t lose another, or she’d be all alone?

She’d asked.

He almost did, for a second, considering. Doubting himself, doubting his 

uncertainty. He took a breath in, ready to answer with a shaky _yes_ before he looked into her eyes and saw the same desire. Her voice was sweet. Her words were harmless. Her hands and posture were open, inviting, kind. Her smile was saccharine. But her eyes were _wild,_ like a caged Pokemon, like a fire fed too much wood too fast- like a forest fire, hungry to burn and destroy and _use._ He knew then, the same way he knew before not to trust her with Nebby. He would _not_ help her.

“No. I won’t.”

She would not take no for an answer.

Her voice grew louder, then, more insistent, and less sweet. There was more of 

the bitterness showing through, the distastefulness.

Ash was a trusting person. He was not vengeful. He was kind, selfless, 

passionate, and caring.

But he did not back down.

“I said _no,_ Lusamine!”

Faba interjected. “I believe you are mistaken, Ash. We are not _asking.”_

Ash looked to him but didn’t respond.

“Let me rephrase.”

And faster than Ash could think (when did his reaction time become so slow?) Faba had ordered his Hypno into a Psychic to incapacitate everyone— people and Pokemon— except for himself, Lusamine, and Ash. Gladion protested immediately, but he couldn’t move his hand to reach for Silvally’s ball.

Then the machine was on and Nebby _screeched._ It hurt his ears and he’d never heard such a distressed sound from the little creature. He covered his ears and tried to ignore Pikachu’s screeches too (Pikachu’s cries now sounded really similar to the desperate, hurting, loss of control in Pikachu’s screech when he cried “ _Pikapi!”_ when Ash was up on Lumiose Tower, when he had the Mega Evolution energy on him, when he _almost submitted_. The only thing that broke him out of his trance, then, was Pikachu’s desperate, pleading scream of his name. This, now, made him wonder. Was the same hurt in Nebby’s screech— was that how Ash’s scream sounded, back then?)

Faba snickered. “Tick tock, Ash, Nebby’s suffering. We need more energy. We wouldn’t want something…” he clicked his tongue, “ _unfortunate_ to happen to your little friend here if we were required to take a bit too much energy, would we, hm?”

Ash looked at Lusamine. She was working hard to seem conflicted.

Ash clenched his fists, trying to control his anger, heat building up in his palms, burning him. “Faba, stop!”

“Will you—?”

“No!”

He looked defiantly into Faba’s eyes, but worked hard to look like he was about to give in (he wasn’t, really.) “…Fine, I! Please just stop, please!” 

The man smiled his stupid shit-eating grin but didn’t stop, waiting expectantly for Ash to submit. He stepped forward, looking as though he was going to. Right before, however, he shot an aura sphere at Nebby’s cage, hoping to break it out. He shot another in quick succession, aiming for Faba’s stupid fucking grin (that man’s smile made him _so_ angry) but he _dodged,_ again, and he was _infuriating,_ but he dodged just perfectly so that Ash’s aura sphere, instead, went into the machine (and did he expect Ash to lash out? Did he position himself perfectly, so that, if Ash attacked in just the way he did, it would be aimed perfectly? Was Ash really that readable?)

Nebby stopped screaming, and the aura sphere did enough damage to break the cage, but suddenly the machine was warping the air in the space above all of them, rippling like a pebble thrown into a pond, perfectly circular, and then suddenly it was ripping, and it was _exactly_ like the other one that had tried to take Lillie, and then the _monster_ came out. 

And _oh no._

There was _absolute terror_ in Lillie’s eyes again, and she started whimpering, but thankfully, thankfully, they were free of the restraints of Hypno’s attack, but still, she was scrambling, scrambling back, trying to get away, but there was nowhere to run. Nowhere at all, because the giant gelatinous monster was coming out of the portal, getting bigger and bigger and bigger and it was so absolutely terrifying and disgusting Ash almost threw up right then and there.

And _Lusamine._ She saw the beast, and he saw her, and she just lit up like a Christmas tree. Her expression changed from conflicted to absolutely goddamn happy, like a child who’d gotten their favorite toy. She was crazed and she only had eyes for the _thing._

There was _utter delight._

They’d called it— what?

Lusamine had called it something. UB-01 Symbiont, or something of the like, and with that thought, Faba echoed it. He looked positively intoxicated as well, but not like Lusamine. Nowhere near like Lusamine.

Gladion looked at Lusamine and was reminded all over again of why she was no mother of his (although he couldn’t it out of his head, and he still thought of her that way. He wished he didn’t). Reminded again of why he left. Because she looked at the monster with more love and tenderness than she’d ever looked on him or Lillie with. She looked as though she wouldn’t be happier for the thing to snatch her up, to take her, and to never return. She _wanted_ that, so, so badly, he could tell, and it sickened him to think of that.

His mother was truly obsessed.

He’d known that, of course he’d known that. That’s why he’d run away in the first place, run away from a monster worse than the one floating above them. Lusamine was absorbed only in her view of the beauty of the UB-01 Symbiont, of nothing else happening, of Lillie crying, now. Of Faba laughing like this was some grand scheme (maybe it was.)

She was corrupted.

She looked like she would _kill_ to get her hands on that thing.

And yet, and yet, this was just a sliver of the truly villainous, manic person he knew she really was (was she even a person anymore? She sure didn’t act like it— instead, choosing to act like a husk, like a robot, like a Barbie doll, perfect and smiling.) This was just a sliver. Because while this alone disgusted him, sent chills down his spine, it was nothing compared to her shrieks, her fake tears, her anger, her accusations, ear-piercing screams in dark rooms, arguing. He was upset. After Mohn disappeared, she’d really gone insane, absorbed into herself, becoming obsessed with Ultra Beasts.

_This one was always her favorite._

It hurt. It really hurt, and it scared him, how she could even lose herself like that in the first place, and how she ignored him and Lillie, electing to bury herself in research so deep and then acting like they weren’t even there. He couldn’t handle it.

He hated her. He really hated her.

And that’s why he’d left. He’d foolishly hoped Lillie would have the better life (she was always the favorite). He knew she hadn’t. He didn’t want to think about it.

This was only a sliver of the antagonistic, shrieking _scientist_ she could be.

He _really_ hoped her true nature wouldn’t be revealed.

The Ultra Beast was white. White like her bleach-blond hair, like her clothes, like Lillie’s hat and hair and skin and dress and shoes and Snowy and everything. White like the pristine metallic halls of Aether Paradise. White like their house.

White like purity. White like snow. White like blinding light.

Lillie’s obsession with white came from her mother’s obsession with purity. Lillie grew up pure and kind, always trying her hardest to stay uncorrupted. Lusamine was obsessed with purity in order to hide the corruption underneath, black and sick and oozing.

And why did her mother look at the beast so, like she loved it more than she loved her daughter?

Lillie saw her mother look at the — Ultra Beast, was it called? That gave her shivers. She saw her mother look at the Ultra Beast in the way she always wished her mother looked at her own daughter.

Lillie really had thought her mother had forgotten her name, before.

So seeing Lusamine look at the beast with such _obsession,_ like a child who’d gotten her favorite toy, Lillie cast aside like another toy that had just been ignored, _used_ like she wasn’t a person, like she was just a pretty little doll, carted around Aether Paradise smiling when her mother actually cared enough to show her off, like she wasn’t _family—_

It made her _angry._ More angry than Lillie had any right to be. She found, however, that she didn’t much care about appearances at the moment. She was going to yell. She was going to scream, and run at her mother, who _dared_ to call herself that, when she _never even cared—!_

And then suddenly the beast wasn’t content to float there menacingly anymore, instead divebombing at all of them. First it was going towards Ash, and there was a strange sort of look on his face before a bright blue glow shot to the side out of him just like before, and that was— _aura,_ her mother had called it?

He didn’t look happy about using it and her heart hurt for him. The beast followed the shot of energy. Then it was going towards Gladion, and _no,_ she wouldn’t let the thing take _him,_ not when she’d just gotten him back, not when he was actually talking to her for the first time in years ( _years and years!)_ and she was running before she realized it, all sense out the window, and then he was yelling, and Ash was yelling, and _Lusamine_ was yelling. And the beast was going to go for her, but Pikachu was attacking the thing and then it focused on him instead. Then Gladion yelled again and the beast was turning around and around, trying to choose who to go for. And for all her heroics just a second ago, she froze when it was barely a few feet away from her, whimpering and then _Lusamine_ was in front of both her children, yelling that she would not let it take her family like it took Mohn.

Gladion knew, that at some level it must be true, that she wanted this perfect ideal of a family, that she’d always wanted, but they’d always fallen short. But he knew that the _real_ reason Lusamine stepped in front was not for a selfless or sacrificial reason. She _wanted_ to get taken by the thing. She’d never wanted _anything more._

He _knew._

And Lillie suddenly felt terrible for doubting her mother. She’d been so angry, just a second ago, but now her mother had _just sacrificed herself for Lillie’s sake!!_ What if she never saw Lusamine ever again?

What kind of horrible daughter was she?

Ash was horrified watching the exchange, trying to deal with the Ultra Beast, but even he was out of his depth here. This wasn’t a legendary. It wasn’t even a _Pokemon._ It wasn’t even _from this world at all._ And Nebby was crying and Pikachu was screaming and Lillie was running and then all of them were yelling and then Lusamine was in front of both her children, yelling that she would protect them with everything.

She looked sweetly back at her children for just a second before the beast took her. Just a second, and it was so _intoxicatingly_ sweet and so goddamn fake— it was as sweet as the first time she’d asked him for Nebby, copious amounts of cloying perfume in his face, voice dripping syrupy sweet (and earlier, when her voice was dripping with malice instead).

And then it _took_ her. Ash saw Lusamine carried off by the Ultra Beast and he was _sickened_ to the point of retching on the spot. And the emotions on her face and the look in her eyes— it was the same way Cyrus looked when he stepped into the portal into the New World. It was the same way Lysandre looked when he threw himself off of Lumiose Tower, proclaiming that his dream of a perfect world would be realized. It was _exactly the same_ as Hunter J’s face when she stood on her Salamence, looking at him, injured, on the dirt in a burning forest, when she’d proclaimed she would stop at nothing, _nothing,_ to possess the power she believed he had. Ash was disturbed, here, looking at Lusamine, frozen and forced to take a pause, all their faces flashing through his mind all in one long second that felt like a lurch.

Lillie was _screaming,_ mouthing _no, no, no!_ But he wasn’t even there anymore. Nothing was really there, anymore, and there was so much noise and also nothing at the same time, because the beast had gone _straight for him,_ and it had swooped at him like it wanted something, and he’d felt this _pull_ on his aura and it had been awful and it had scared him, making him a coward instead of the person who always sprang into action first. He’d _deflected._ He never ran away.

And Lusamine was gone, now, because it took her into the portal and then it closed and disappeared, and Lillie was sobbing for a mother who never lived up to the title, but she wasn’t _dead,_ but Ash didn’t know what to do.

Faba looked intoxicatingly happy, like Lusamine, except, except, that wasn’t part of the plan. They were supposed to go into the Ultra Wormhole together.

He hoped there’d be another.

And Ash was suddenly trying to damage control, with Lillie crying and Faba still there, and Gladion was _so angry,_ and confused, too.

And Nebby was suddenly glowing, and changing, and it wasn’t fluffy and cloud-shaped anymore— it was hard and small and closed off, unable to respond, and— did it— did it _evolve?_

And everything was changed, and _oh no._

Because this was only the start of the bad thing he’d been sensing.

It was going to be big.

And _he_ was going to have to pick up the pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!


	5. Into the Belly of the (Ultra) Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was pleasure and some empty, blank emotionless happiness on her face when Ash was hurt. The pleasure she took in his pain was just like the pleasure in J’s eyes; when he’d been ripped out of his high-altitude free fall by her Salamence, the claws of the Pokemon digging into his injuries, making his scream. She’d taken the same sadistic pleasure in his pain.
> 
> Right then, Lusamine looked the worst type of evil one could be.
> 
> And that was coming from Ash.
> 
> And her eyes, reflecting and flecked with purple and green, clouding and clearing as she looked on with awe and interest. Her sick sort of pleasure and sadistic happiness- it was like a child who didn’t understand pain and only thought that a scream was funny.
> 
> Her eyes weren’t the clear green they were when she cornered him. No, these clouded gray, like smoke, like fog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is finally out! I know the wait was longer than usual but we have another chapter close to 10,000 words! Merry Late Christmas! And happy holidays!!
> 
> tw for a couple curse words and flashbacks, also everything that comes with lusamine being corrupted by nihilego-- generally, check the tags, and proceed with caution :)

She awoke with a start and the urgent feeling that she needed to be up _right now._ She looked to her window, up on her feet with a jolt, and her eyes widened when she saw Gladion. He was _there,_ outside her window, on the ground below. He looked like he wanted to get her but he wasn’t sure, pondering and hanging back. He kept glancing up at her, and finally, he saw her and took his own surprised step back.

It was hard to see in the dark of night, but she thought she saw him mouth “Lillie.” Gladion turned away, almost like he was going to leave, before he walked to the window, and then turned around again. Annoyed by his uncertainty, she prepared to leave as soon as she could, getting dressed and packing a short bag, hopping to the edge of the windowsill.

They were going to save their mother, of course.

Silvally hopped up to the second story level, seeming almost to hover for a second where she could jump on its back before they were back on the ground and she was less than a few feet away from Gladion.

They’d talked when going to apprehend Faba but hadn’t really connected. Now they were alone, and besides traveling, they had nothing to do but talk.

“What are you waiting for, Brother? Aren’t we going after Mother? Do you know how to get to her?”

He examined her face closely, but seemed to avoid looking her straight in the eye. “…Lillie, are you sure you want to do this? It’ll be dangerous. It’ll be ugly. You’re…not gonna recognize her.”

She tilted her chin up proudly, directing her own eyes straight into his and daring him to look away. He didn’t. “Yes, Gladion, I’m sure. I’m not a little girl anymore. I am strong and brave and unafraid to play the hero,” and she paused, for a second, deciding whether to say it, before she did anyway. “Not that you would know.”

He winced, but nodded, and they got on Silvally’s back silently. The Pokemon started to move and she held on tight. The night air had a slight chill, humid and breezy. Her hair, pulled up into a high ponytail, swayed in the breeze. She looked at the stars above, shining on.

The moon was full.

They rode for a while, in silence, before it suddenly grew heavy and she felt the need to speak. “Gladion…I…I feel so terrible. Mother _sacrificed_ herself to protect us, and here I was, almost hating her just a moment before. She confuses me so…sometimes I think I can try to love her again, and then suddenly I’m bitter…”

“Am I an awful person for feeling that way towards her? She’s _sacrificed_ so much for us to be a perfect family and now she’s _gone…”_

To her horror, Lillie was crying, suddenly, and just as suddenly, Silvally came to a halt, Gladion whipping around angrily. “Don’t you _dare_ think like that, Lillie! Lusamine is _awful!_ How could you _possibly_ think she’s got any semblance at all to a good mother?”

She pulled away, shocked. “How would _you_ know, Gladion? You ran away! You _left_ us like we’re not _family!”_

“Did she treat you well?”

The question wasn’t what she’d expected— she’d expected his anger, because while she wasn’t usually this forward, she’d been wondering and wondering for so long why Gladion left, and her mother had told her how horrible of a person he was.

Who was lying?

_Did_ Lusamine treat her well? The overwhelming, immediate answer was _no,_ but wasn’t that just because she was working for the greater good? Didn’t she just suffer in the past so her future could be better? (Or was that just another excuse?)

“…No, she didn’t. She didn’t, but said she was working to save our _family._ She _said_ that she was almost there, that she _loved me._ How could she be a bad mother if she loved me, Gladion?”

Here, his anger softened into a quiet sympathy and a sort of pity, like she was pathetic and weak and childish. “She manipulated you, Lillie, you realize that, right? She’s manipulative— that’s her _whole_ thing! She’s an awful mother— you and I would know that better than anyone. _Really_ remember the things she’s done. Don’t think about her manipulation. See past that.”

Here stretched a long and cold silence as Silvally started to move again.

Was it all just manipulation? Of _course,_ she knew manipulation was Lusamine’s whole thing— she’d always been a good liar, and that was all she ever did. But she wasn’t _all bad,_ was she? Because if Lusamine was Lillie’s mother and she was really that bad, then what did that make Lillie?

“…Gladion… _why_ did you run away? Mother tried to make me forget about you, she tried to tell me that you were never there in the first place. What made you leave?”

He was looking to the side, and the breeze ruffled his hair. He looked back to her, meeting her eyes for the first time. “You know the Ultra Beast, Lillie? The thing that tried to get you, the thing that took Lusamine away?”

“Of course.”

“She’s _obsessed_ with those things. _Obsessed._ After one of them took Father, she delved into her research, more and more, and ignored us, and got worse. She loved them. She was enamored. Remember how she ignored us? Remember when we wanted her to love us?

She loved _those things_ more than her own children, and she _didn’t care that one hurt you!_ The night you forgot everything? She was _there! She pretended she forgot!”_

_…_ Lusamine was _there?_

“She got worse. I confronted her. She got really angry. You…probably remember us fighting. She screamed and screamed and told me she didn’t care, insulted me, you, us, our family, and she cried fake tears, and she was so _awful—_ and I just— I couldn’t _be_ with you anymore. I was scared to even touch you after what happened, and I couldn’t be around Lusamine so I just— left.”

“You just left,” she repeated dryly, her voice surprisingly bitter.

“I can’t be sorry. I can’t regret it. I wish I’d taken you with me— that’s my only regret. I wish you didn’t have to grow up with her. I’m sorry about that, but I’m not sorry for leaving.”

She didn’t speak for a while after that, the silence sharp as a knife.

Finally, he broke it.

“Lillie, it’s up to you. I’ve noticed how you’ve been getting closer to Mother— after you recovered your memories. I don’t think it’s good. I don’t think you should have her in your life at all. I think you _should_ hate her. She deserves it. She doesn’t deserve an _ounce_ of your love, and she’ll never truly return it. She’s built on such a foundation of lies that I don’t think she’s ever been genuine….but it’s your choice. I gave you my opinion. You have to decide whether to leave or to stay.”

-.-.-.-

Ash found himself on Professor Kukui’s porch, confused, just a little teary-eyed, and holding close a changed, unresponsive Nebby. Pikachu was on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. He knocked, and when the door opened, he was immediately swept up into a big warm hug.

“Ash! I’m so glad you’re okay! You need to tell us everything that happened!”

And he heard Professor Burnet say something, but he couldn’t quite make it out over the rushing in his ears. He tried to ignore his rising anxiety— and the numbness, from somewhere deep inside that confused him.

Why was he feeling bad? Nothing had happened to him. It was Lillie who’d been hurt, Lillie and Gladion who had seen their mother torn from their grasp.

It was Lillie who’d been sobbing.

Still, he found it hard not to get emotional now that he was in the Professor’s arms, but he kept together enough for the man not to be too worried.

He was on the couch, then, and both the Professors were on either side of him, squishing and sandwiching him comfortingly. There was some hot Tapu Cocoa on the stove, warming, and they were looking at him questioningly. Only then did he unfurl the arms he’d been hugging close to his chest, revealing Nebby. Kukui gasped (Burnet had seen it earlier, but it appeared she hadn’t had the time to tell him about it).

“Is that—?”

“—Nebby, yeah it is. I don’t…”

“Do you think it evolved?”

“I mean…that has to be it, right?”

“Ash, what did Faba do? What happened at Aether Paradise?”

He gave them a very brief, very basic rundown. Faba had taken Nebby to the labs, and they’d met Lusamine there, and Faba had used Nebby’s energy to create a portal.

"Professor Kukui...I-- I _told_ you about everything that's happened, with aura and Hunter J and Lysandre and--," he looked towards Professor Burnet, "do you know about...?"

She shook her head no, looking absolutely clueless. He hesitated, conflicted. "Well, maybe we could tell you later but--what I wanted to say was that...Lusamine _reminded_ me of them, because she _wanted_ to _use me._ And I don't know if that's just me being messed up from the past, or if she really is like that but...it made me feel _awful_ for saying no."

Kukui lunged toward Ash with a great big hug. This _poor kid!_ "Ash, you are _not_ at _all_ in the wrong for saying no. _She_ was the one out of line. Promise me. Promise me you understand that _it is not your fault."_

He nodded. He told them, then, that t he Ultra Beast came out of the portal he and Nebby had accidentally opened together and it took Lusamine. (He’d found out, somehow on the way home, that they were calling it Nihilego. Maybe it was Wicke. Maybe it was Gladion. He wasn’t quite sure, his memory not super concrete. He hated that when he got into danger, he was super alert during it, but as soon as the immediate threat was removed, his memory got hazy.)

He thought that Lillie and Gladion were going to go after her. He wanted to come too. He wanted to help.

“…Professor Kukui? Professor Burnet? …Am I a bad person? Am I a bad friend, for not doing all that I can to help a family to be perfect again?”

Their response was immediate. “Ash, where would you ever get that idea?” was Kukui’s response. “Of course you’re not! You’re the sweetest boy I know, Ash!” was Burnet’s.

“But…I just…am I crazy, then? Lusamine, whenever she talks, she gets me so confused! It’s like she’s playing with my head! I never know whether my feelings are true anymore or if I’m just crazy— am I going crazy, Professor Kukui?”

Kukui tensed when Ash was talking. He’d always had an unsavory aftertaste in his mouth whenever he thought of or had to interact with her. Anyone could tell— especially a teacher— that Lillie did not care for her mother. She didn’t talk about her much, but the fact that she only lived in a big mansion by herself and a _butler_ spoke well enough.

Besides, she was so falsely saccharine.

And Burnet complained about her when she got home. She didn’t like her boss.

So to hear that Lusamine was hurting _Ash_ now, not just one of his students, but _two,_ and it was _Ash,_ who he’d grown (surprisingly quickly) to care for so deeply—

He was protective, and it made him feel _angry._

_“No,_ Ash, you’re not going crazy! She, she—“

And Burnet cut him off here, asking him “What prompted this, Ash? What did Lusamine do?”

And suddenly he was _real_ quiet. He’d left this part out. (He’d thought Burnet had been around to hear, so why was she—?)

“She…said some things that confused me. I _know_ that I’m not crazy, but she made me feel like I wasn’t thinking straight! It got me all twisted up and…"

Professor Burnet spoke up, then. "Ash, I know she mentioned your--"

"I’m okay, now, though!" He interjected quickly, not wanting to get into this. "Thanks, guys.”

That effectively shut down the conversation. They shared a heavy look he didn’t fully understand.

“Of course, kid.” 

Professor Kukui ruffled his hair. “Movies and pizza?”

He couldn’t quite get his worry out of his mind, but he decided he could put it off for one night. “Movies and pizza.”

-.-.-.-

The next morning at school, Lillie _wasn’t there,_ and she was _always_ there, and he knew, he just knew that she’d gone with Gladion to chase after her mother.

He hated that she was in that position.

He hated even more that he’d been left behind.

Ash knew, he _knew_ he didn’t always need to be the hero (a certain memory came to mind, of Kukui placing his great big hand on his shoulder and forcing Ash to look him in the eyes. “Ash, you don’t always need to put others’ needs before your own. There’s a time when putting _yourself_ first is the right thing to do, not selfish but protecting yourself. I don’t think you know when to do that— you _always_ put others first, no matter what it does to you, and I worry that one day it’s going to get you hurt. Please, promise me, Ash. Understand that you don’t always need to be the hero.” And he’d nodded, not quite getting it, but he’d promised anyway.

How could he put himself first, though? How could he even _think_ of doing that when Arceus _always_ needed him at the worst times possible?

What if something terrible happened and it was his fault for not being the hero?)

He _knew_ that he didn’t always need to be the hero.

He also knew that Gladion _really_ didn’t want him involved. Right before they’d parted ways, last night, when it was just the two of them left, he’d gotten real close, stern and leaving no room for argument, and said “This is a _family matter,_ Ash. Stay _out_ of this. I don’t need you getting involved. I’m sorry you ever had to in the first place.”

And Ash had been so dumbstruck that he’d nodded desperately and agreed. (He’d almost flinched. Gladion’s intensity reminded him of Misty’s defensiveness, the first time he’d asked her about her sisters.)

He regretted making that promise, though, because he knew he was going to get involved anyway.

His classmates were eager to learn what happened (“Why is Nebby like that?” “What happened at Aether Paradise?” “Where’s Lillie?”) and he gave them the same brief explanation he gave the Professors.

Speaking of which, Professor Kukui and Hobbes walked in. Apparently, Gladion and Lillie were missing and of course, of _course,_ they’d gone after Lusamine, but where? How? Gladion must have known something (he always knew something).

Kahuna Hala told them to go to the Altar of the Sunne on Poni Island, and then he and his whole class (minus Lillie) were quick on the sea to chase after their friends. Ash felt…uneasy, and antsy, and he couldn’t help but pace on the boat. Why didn’t it go _faster?_ Why were they so slow? If he’d had it his way, he would’ve jumped into the Ultra Wormhole itself the first time (not that it would’ve been even realistic, but Ash had never let the boundaries of what was possible govern his actions.)

Soon enough, though, they were docking on Poni Island, and he knew exactly where he was. This was just like his dream. He twirled slowly, trying to shake off the eerie feeling of deja vu (except he really knew where it was from), and navigated his way around the rocks and trees until they were on a long, long staircase of stone. He ignored the burn in his legs (because even though he loved staying with Kukui, it was hard, still, to stay in one place after six years on the road, and he was out of shape) and pushed up, harder, further, pushed on by the urgency that he needed to get there as fast as he could.

Finally, _finally,_ they reached the top, and he heard distressed noises from inside, and that _had_ to be Lillie and Gladion, right? At this point, the rest of his friends, huffing and puffing, weren’t far behind him, and he shot into the fray, dodging places where the ancient stone had crumbled, until he made it to a room full of Pokemon, Lillie’s yelling, and the ceiling of stone caving in, a sure crushing path to a painful death (he would know).

Luckily, Pikachu’s power was strong enough to obliterate rock (they’d trained that up) and with a quick Electro Ball, Gladion and Lillie were saved from their untimely death. He sprinted up to them, and came face to face with Lillie’s relieved expression and Gladion’s…conflicted one.

In tandem with his sister’s cry of “Thank you, Ash!” he demanded “How did you get here? What are you doing?”

Ash gave a fond sigh. He knew this would happen, but it was okay. He was patient. “Gladion, Lillie, we’re here to help you!” and with a sweeping motion of his arm, gesturing to his friends, “We all are!”

Gladion scowled. “I told you this was a family matter!”

Ash opened his hands, inviting and casual. “Gladion, we’re in Alola, right? And in Alola, people share everything! So share your burden with us and let us help you!”

There was something that lit up in Gladion’s eyes for just a moment (if he didn’t know any better, Ash would say Gladion was surprised. If he didn’t know any better, he would say that Gladion never expected help from anyone, _ever.)_ But he still hesitated, used to working alone and determined to stay that way (Ash was like that once upon a time (he still was, occasionally)) until Lillie convinced him. “Brother, I think this is the best thing to do. Let them help us!”

And then he relented and his friends cheered and then they were staring at each other. They reached a silent agreement. Truce. (Ash wished they were real friends, and he felt like they were anyway, but Gladion was so unused to the concept of _friends_ that he wasn’t sure what to do with someone who was willing to stick around, to help.)

Then the Island Guardians were there— Tapu Koko, and then Tapu Lele, and Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Fini. They asked for help— Ash did, and Lillie was more insistent, and Gladion practically _begged_ (and wasn’t that unlike what Ash knew about him? Maybe he’d been more affected by his mother being taken than he cared to admit.)

The Island Guardians took Nebby, and they created a beautiful light show around their guests, and they were promising Ash that they _would_ help, they would, but they had to be patient. So half an hour later _finally_ found them calling out that it was ready, and everyone leapt to their feet.

And Nebby…trans _formed._

Nebby was _Solgaleo._

_Oh._

Nebby was the highest legendary of Alola (other than Lunala).

And Ash was happy. He was ecstatic, of _course_ he was, of course, but Nebby _had_ to be a legendary. Nebby had to be Solgaleo, of course, because Ash was the fucking _Chosen One._ His friends looked on Solgaleo with amazement, and then that amazement turned to Ash, and they were all looking (Lillie and Gladion, especially, looked at him in a new light, and were strangely inquisitive. Oh, _right._ They’d seen his little light show back in the lab, before Lusamine was taken. They knew _that,_ and now they knew _this,_ and maybe they were thinking Lusamine’s claims that he was _special_ (ugh) had some validity).

He was the Chosen One, and this was Arceus’ choice now. And he had to accept it (didn’t mean he liked the god, of course he didn’t. And if Arceus was going to smite him for that thought, so be it.).

He was the Chosen One, and he hated it, because whenever he thought that, he got chills, because his own internal monologue was replaced by the deep, proud, sweeping voice of Lysandre, proclaiming that Ash and Greninja would be the Chosen Ones to lead only the purest alive out of the destruction of the world, and all he heard was Hunter J calling him special (rare).

He pushed past it, though, and tried to smile, and just appreciated that his Nebby, _his Nebby,_ was Solgaleo, and they pressed their heads together in a deep moment of pure connection, and he could feel the warmth of the sun on the fur of the legendary, he could feel the pride, the love, that Solgaleo was projecting to him (calling him Nebby seemed wrong, now, for such a proud beast.)

And they were going to go to Ultra Space, but first, he got a Z crystal from the Island Guardians (was it for Solgaleo?). It didn’t fit, though, so they took his Z bracelet and, through a ritual, transformed it (he ignored the amazement in his peers’ eyes.)

He climbed onto Solgaleo’s back, and his friends did too, and he felt implored to use his Z move then, and he _felt_ the power coursing through him, coursing through Solgaleo, as they worked together to open the Ultra Wormhole, and then they were flying into the sky, straight into the belly of the beast.

-.-.-.-

The city was supposed to be beautiful. Green, and lush, and picturesque, the pamphlet said. Misty was excited. Over the hill, though, it…wasn’t. There was nothing green. It was covered in some strangely beautiful crystalline substance, spanning the town and countryside and centralizing at what was once a big mansion, now twisted into a crystal castle.

What had happened?

While vaguely perturbed, he was more interested than bothered. They went to investigate, and then Ash’s _mom_ was there (and it annoyed him how she looked past him, instead going to cradle Pikachu in her arms). So was Professor Oak.

They asked about the predicament of the previously picturesque town and Delia explained. The man who lived in the mansion was a family friend? 

“Do you remember Molly Hale, Ash?” his mother questioned.

Molly, Molly…oh! The little girl who was 4 years younger than him (and he also remembered how spoiled she was. She was cute, sure, and she _certainly_ played that up to the adults, but she was also a little kid.)

And then, suddenly, a giant beast (was that _Entei,_ one of the main legendaries from Johto?) assaulted them, hypnotizing and kidnapping his mom! Without a thought, he sprung into action, chasing after the Pokemon, running, running as fast as he could, ignoring his friends’ calls behind him, but he was too slow, and it was too late, and then his mom was gone, kidnapped by a legendary.

Why?

He’d wanted to go in there, still, tears already on his face and anger clenching his jaw until it hurt, but they’d held him back. He fought against Brock, unable to make eye contact when Professor Oak made him promise not to go after his mom.

The joke was on him, though, because that night found Ash sneaking out, going to the crystalline castle in pursuit of the creature who’d stolen his mom, Misty, and Brock close behind him.

Professor Oak was quick on their Pokegear, scolding Ash for his reckless behavior (like he cared). The crystal was…alive, somehow, working to keep them out, pushing them down, knocking them over, and locking them out. They got in anyway.

And it _creeped him out._ It felt cold, and empty, and desolate, and all the halls looked the same. He felt, that if he didn’t have Misty and Brock with him, he would have wandered the halls forever, lost and alone.

He had a one-track mind— save his mom. Save his mom. Save his mom, and maybe punch that Entei in the face.

And save Molly too.

And then, all of a sudden, the crystal evened out into a vast, sunny grass field (in the middle of the night?) and a teenage girl was there, seemingly materializing out of the crystal, and she _looked_ like Molly (he could never tell, super well. He’d always been bad at faces. No wonder Team Rocket had fooled him so easily with their haphazard disguises, time and time and time again.) But it couldn’t have been Molly. Molly was supposed to be six years old, not six _teen,_ and she acted all wrong.

She was on Entei’s back, and she was Molly anyway, and so he just had to accept it. He demanded his mom back. Molly looked at him, confused, and even though she looked like a teenager, she giggled like a little kid, and argued, petulant and immature.

“Battle me, and maybe I’ll tell you!”

And Ash had been ready to engage her but was stopped by Brock. “No, Ash, go on ahead. You need to save your mom. I’ll be okay. I’m a gym leader, remember?”

And he’d been reluctant (he didn’t like the wry smile the older trainer was giving him) but Misty had pulled him along anyway, guiding them up the crystalline spiral staircase that appeared out of nowhere. He almost fell off more than once, trying to see if Brock would be okay.

Somehow, he didn’t feel like this would just be a normal Pokemon battle.

Misty kept ahold of his hand, imploring him to keep running, keep running, they had to keep running. They had to escape the growing crystal trying to subdue them. They had to get as far as they could before Molly came back.

Then they were on a sunny shore, and Ash almost ran into the girl in question, childish smile not looking quite right on the face of an almost-adult, and stumbled back. He worried about Brock. Apparently, he wasn’t enough of a threat.

So Misty volunteered, and it tore his heart, to see his friends staying back for him. Because this castle was menacing. It wasn’t normal. It was sharp and eerie and malicious and he couldn’t help but feel his chest tighten at them putting themselves in danger (was this how they felt when he did it?)

The teenager then _shifted,_ turning into a kid their age, and both he and Misty shuddered but pasted on smiles. Molly jumped up and down, elated, and Misty shifted into a battle stance, sparing a glance at Ash when he didn’t move. “Move Ash, go, go! You have to get there! I’ll be okay!”

He knew she would be okay. Of course. His legs carried him up more turns, twists, of the fragile spiraling staircase, having to leap over the gaps every once in a while when the steps shattered like glass.

He spared one last look and saw the arena fill with water.

Water battling. Of course! Misty’s specialty (and that gave him some confidence. She would win. Of _course_ she would win.)

He continued to run, lungs burning, and the water kept filling up, and it went over his head, and he thought he would drown, but he could breathe and…right. This was Molly’s dreamscape. She could make anything and everything a reality through her illusions.

Finally, finally, he reached the top of the castle. His _mom_ was there, and he was hugging her, and he’d _done_ it, and Molly was here, sleeping on her lap, even though her illusion was probably still back battling Misty. His mom was ready to go, they had to escape, and they almost convinced Molly to come with them, but she was just a little girl. She was just a lonely little girl who’d finally gotten her dream of a loving mother and father (no matter how illusionary) and she wasn’t going to let go. The Unown and Entei, attuned to her every beck and call, reacted swiftly and maliciously. The entire room erupted in spikes, cold and sharp and slippery like ice, between his mom and him, separating them, and encircling Molly (she looked so _scared_ ) and he fought to get through them, and he almost did, but then Entei was there again, and he was after Ash.

Entei, even though he was just an illusion, was as powerful and deadly as a real legendary and Ash had to be on his guard. Totodile and Cyndaquil were defeated each with one move and Ash was in trouble. Never one to give up, though, Pikachu jumped into battle. He was batted around, and though he held his own against a _legendary_ (he’d done it before. Ash knew, and he knew Pikachu knew it too, that his buddy was destined for great things, powerful, strong, and unafraid to face the gods).

Pikachu wasn’t able to finish his battle, though, even as battered and bruised as he was, because Entei played _dirty_ and utilized the giant gaping cliff behind them to his advantage (and the deadly sharp spikes below). Entei was aiming for the _kill_ and that was clear when he _blasted_ Pikachu off the cliff (after Ash had jumped in front of the little mouse) and Ash thought he and Pikachu were going to die then (not that he could really think all that coherently when plummeting through the air so fast he couldn’t hear anything but the rush of wind in his ears.)

Suddenly, though, right before impact, he was _caught,_ and when he gingerly opened his eyes he saw it was _Charizard._ Charizard, who’d stayed back at Charicific Valley, and while they’d parted on amicable terms, he didn’t think they’d ever really see each other again. But here, without explanation, Charizard swooped in at the perfect time, and Ash was relieved and happy.

Now Ash actually had a chance against Entei (although he was almost immediately knocked near the edge of the cliff again, saved only from certain death by his friends, his _family—_ Misty, Brock, and…Team Rocket?) and he rode on Charizard’s back at they flew through the air in a flying battle with the legendary.

They twisted and turned, Ash and Charizard together, over the barren wasteland of a crystalline otherworldly landscape, covered in crystal spikes that glittered like glass and glinted with the guarantee of injury should one happen to touch him (and death should he happen to be impaled). Entei shot attack after attack, purples blending into pinks into a fiery orange, strangely beautiful and burning at the same time with the intent to injure or kill (Molly couldn’t know that Entei really meant to kill another child, right?)

They shot through the air, dodging and flying, and then Ash and Charizard were flying up, straight vertical, and he had to hold on tight not to fall off the dragon’s back, his hands turning cold and white-knuckled. They were against a cliffside, going up and up, the same crystal spikes shooting out of the cliff, right above them, constant, forcing Charizard to put his dodging skills to good use (Ash hoped that training in a rocky valley with spikes such as this had honed Charizard’s skills) just to keep them both from being impaled.

Then, though, Entei sent them shooting down to the bottom, and they were falling again, and Charizard hit the ground _hard,_ and Ash bounced and rolled off to the side, bruised and most certainly sporting _some_ broken bones (maybe a rib?) and Entei was _there,_ on top of Charizard, paw on his neck, attack readied to kill, point-blank at Charizard’s head, and Ash couldn’t stop it, and it was going to be his fault.

Then, Molly stepped up. Her fists were clenched. There were tears in her eyes. She yelled, forced out “Stop! Papa, stop! No more fighting, please!”

And then it was over. Then, Entei was no longer a fatal threat.

Then they had to escape the Unown. Everyone together— Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Charizard, Jessie, James, Meowth, Delia, Molly, and Entei— they all worked together to escape the crystalline castle now growing forward to encase all of them in a barren wasteland forever.

But they escaped. They escaped anyway, and then everything was okay, and even though Ash was freaked out by everything, he pushed that away, he tried to forget everything, because they were all _safe,_ and there was no reason to get worked up, so he just hugged Pikachu, he hugged his mom, tight as he could.

Delia got angry at him. “Ash! You constantly put yourself in danger! I really don’t know where you get your reckless streak! I thought you were going to _die_ back there! You almost did, _multiple times!_ And you almost died before, in the Shamouti Islands! I just can’t keep doing this! I don’t— I don’t want to lose you! If I lose you, I won’t have anything left! So you better not get into any more danger, okay? If you do- if you do— then—! Maybe you can’t _be_ on a Pokemon journey anymore, _Ash!”_

He was struck silent by that prospect. 

“So don’t you _dare_ get into any more danger!”

He promised her. He knew he couldn’t keep it. She knew, deep down, he couldn’t either. They came to this unspoken agreement, after that, where she never asked about the dangerous parts of his journey, because she didn’t want to know— she would rather sit there, waiting forever on a boy who would come home then bear to think about the day he might not. And he didn’t tell.

And it was okay.

But he never forgot about Molly and her crystal castle of doom, and Entei.

And he was starting to wonder if Lusamine, like Molly, was a spoiled child who knew not the destruction they could wreak on others with their childish wants.

Especially when a Pokemon wanted to _fulfill_ those wishes.

Like Nihilego.

-.-.-.-.-

Ultra Space was…dark, and cold. Empty, and eerie. It was a barren crystal wasteland (it reminded him of Molly’s castle once upon a time.) A thick miasma hung in the air— he couldn’t _see_ it, but he could feel it. There was some sort of energy here.

_Corrupted_ energy.

And then there were _so many_ Nihilego. They hung around the group, in the air, surrounding them like a flock of Spearow on the hunt. And though they had nothing resembling a face, Ash could tell they were all looking _directly at him._ He could almost… _feel_ them, feel something, and it felt like whispers crawling up his back and choking him. He knew, then, that if he didn’t move they would strike, so he ran and the group followed. Then Lusamine was there, but it wasn’t her. She wasn’t recognizable. She looked like a Nihilego, but bigger, and darker, more gelatinous, and more toxic.

If he didn’t know better, he wouldn’t have been able to tell she used to be a human.

Lillie came forward and tried to reason with her, but all she shouted was “I _hate you!”_

And though Lillie still stood strong, Ash saw all her resolve _crumple._ Mallow was quick to reassure her “Lillie, she doesn’t mean that! Your mother isn’t herself right now!”

And Lillie knew, she knew, but _still._ She pulled herself together anyway, because she had to, and her resolve hardened. She would be strong. She would be brave. She would be stronger than her mother could _ever_ hope to be.

Lusamine was running away, and Ash and Lillie and Gladion and the others sprinted after her, hopping across floating rocks over the huge divide between landforms, nothing beneath but darkness. Gravity was weird here, and Ash kept almost tripping.

Lusamine was _just like a child._ Everyone could see it. Gladion reasoned that this wasn’t just the Ultra Beast. This _was_ Lusamine. It had her motivations and her aspirations. And she wanted to hurt them, wanted them to _stay away,_ because she thought they were the bad guys who had come to take away her new favorite toy.

Lusamine was like a child throwing a tantrum. Like a child, who hadn’t yet developed concern and empathy for others. Like a child, who didn't understand right from wrong. Like a child, spoiled and cruel. “Leave me alone or I’m going to do something _frightening!”_

Like a child. Like _Molly._

They ran headfirst into one of her Pokemon, evil-looking and angry. It was corrupted by the Ultra Beast. Kiawe volunteered to stay behind and fight it. And the situation seemed vaguely familiar.

They were on Solgaleo’s back, running after Lusamine, dodging the other Nihilego (they kept swooping towards Ash), and then they were facing more of her Pokemon. Sophocles and Lana and Mallow stayed behind this time, with their Pokemon and some of his, to fight the ones here. He knew they were strong— he had the utmost faith in them— but they’d never had to stay behind and fight like this before. His Alolan friends…of _course,_ they were strong, but he was amazed by how levelheaded they were being in the face of danger. They hadn’t had to deal with something like this before, not like Misty and Brock, not like May and Max, or Dawn, or Cilan and Iris, or Serena and Bonnie and Clemont.

But they did it anyway. And he couldn’t afford to look back. He had to keep going, keep going, and it was him and Lillie and Gladion left on Solgaleo’s back.

Then they were facing Clefable. And Lillie (he was so, so proud of how far she’d come, and how brave she was, and how much she was stepping up here) volunteered to battle.

Lillie took a deep breath in and steeled herself as Ash and Gladion moved on, still riding the Alolan legendary. Here she was, with Snowy and Ash’s Lycanroc, facing her childhood best friend (before she couldn’t touch Pokemon anymore). _Clefable._ They’d been together for so long, and Clefable _had_ to remember her, right? _Had_ to!

Lillie wasn’t a very good battler. She knew that. For so long she couldn’t even touch Pokemon, and she couldn’t bear seeing them hurt. So the Pokemon were purely for defense against their corrupted opponent. “I’m going to battle in my own way, Clefable! You have to remember me! Remember everything? Remember playing together, tea parties, dollhouses, and just you and me together, for hours and hours when we were alone? Do you remember?”

The fairy type only scowled and attacked. She pushed through, a smile on her face, her Clefairy doll out, trying to make her remember. Finally, she was touching her (and she never would have been able to do this, only a few days ago.) and _begging_ her to remember. She was _Lillie!_

“I love you! Remember me!”

And then Clefable did. The Pokemon was no longer attacking, instead looking at her with clear eyes, and she was filled with joy. Lillie was strong. She’d _done_ it.

Ash and Gladion rode on Solgaleo’s back, a sense of urgency building in both of them. Lusamine was getting angrier. An Absol was shot out of its ball, angry and threatening. Gladion recognized it, and he vaulted off of the legendary’s back, releasing his Pokemon, ready to fight. “Gladion…are you…?”

He smirked and looking back at Ash. “Ash, you do it! Save Lusamine!”

He smiled and nodded. Solgaleo shot ahead, leaping across the divides, floating and flying, wind rushing through Ash’s hair, eyes focused only on Lusamine.

On the Mother Beast.

They were on the largest platform now, a floating purple island of crystal, bobbing slightly up and down in the galaxy-like world. Lusamine was on the other side of a valley, and as soon as Ash was ready to fight, giant waves of purple poison washed over, turning the divide into a lake of poison, marbled violet and fuchsia and indigo, beautiful and deadly.

Ash dipped his foot in the liquid to test it, anyway, and came out screaming. It _hurt._ It hurt more than a lot of other things. This wasn’t normal poison. This didn’t hurt like Drapion’s Poison Sting.

This was corrupted.

And he just happened to look over at her right after touching the lake.

He wished he hadn’t. 

There was pleasure and some empty, blank emotionless happiness on her face when Ash was hurt. The pleasure she took in his pain was just like the pleasure in J’s eyes; when he’d been ripped out of his high-altitude free fall by her Salamence, the claws of the Pokemon digging into his injuries, making his scream. She’d taken the same sadistic pleasure in his pain.

Right then, Lusamine looked the worst type of evil one could be.

And that was coming from _Ash._

And her eyes, reflecting and flecked with purple and green, clouding and clearing as she looked on with awe and interest. Her sick sort of pleasure and sadistic happiness- it was like a child who didn’t understand pain and only thought that a scream was _funny._

Her eyes weren’t the clear green they were when she cornered him. No, these clouded gray, like smoke, like fog.

Still, they held the worst of her old color, a hollow husk of the person she was, once upon a time. He got onto Solgaleo’s back and rode across the lake until he was close to her. She stared right at him. Her eyes were glossy and green like twisted funhouse mirrors, darkness and shadow entering them that was so inhuman it sent chills involuntarily down his spine. It was the same slimy feeling entering his heart and throat as when he touched a freezing icicle— slippery and painfully cold.

The Mother Beast’s gaze was cold like the cold that confused his brain, so he felt hot and cold at the same time. He was so lost in her eyes it felt like an endless kaleidoscope, and he was suddenly reminded of every single time he’d drowned in the icy ocean, so deep it was dark and he choked and he couldn’t breathe and he didn’t know which way was up or down.

He knew the sea could be beautiful— he could see that when he looked into the eyes of Greninja, with a depth of aquamarine mixing with sapphire and sea blue; he could see the beautiful blues of the tropics, the purity of water. Water that provided life, that refreshed, that cleaned, and yet, and yet, when he looked into her eyes instead, it was just like the very depths of the ocean, when he’d been underwater and it was too late, he was too close to choking, he was too far down, and the pressure was too much.

He came out choking and sputtering, gasping as though he really had been underwater.

When Ash was younger, he’d been to a puppet show once. He’d been enamored by the way the puppets moved, their little bodies jumping and jerking and _lurching,_ and while it was reminiscent of humanoid movement, it was far too staccato and choppy, and he’d found it just a little disturbing. He could have watched the puppets for hours, the way they danced and spun and spoke and moved, tilting and teetering. Their eyes seemed to be only for him, staring and smiling.

Lusamine lurched and leapt like a puppet, a marionette doll with a pasted-on smile and empty eyes, moving out of her own control, manipulated by a far more sinister hand. He was entranced, for a moment, watching it, before he was knocked out of it when she started to run away again. Solgaleo tossed him onto its back and then they were hurrying after, again, higher up the mountainous floating island.

Crystal spikes shot out of the ground, intending to—hinder him, to impale him, he couldn’t tell—growing from Lusamine’s anger, twisted and sharp and glowing with energy. It reminded him of the vines in Lumiose City, pulsing with Mega Evolution Energy. They drew on his aura in weird ways. Corrupted ways. This wasn’t— this wasn’t _natural._ This wasn’t right.

And then there was nowhere for the Mother Beast to run. She was cornered, and he tried to help her— he just had to free Lusamine and incapacitate the Ultra Beast and everything would be fine, right? (wrong)

“Pikachu, you distract the Ultra Beast, I’ll free Lusamine, okay?”

He ordered Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt, Electro Ball after Electro Ball, but he kept getting batted to the side like an annoying insect, no matter how much he tried. He ran, on the attack, again and again, and each time he got a handful of new bruises, and he was going to try again, but then Gladion and Lillie were there, on Silvally’s back, and they were all okay, and there was some huge weight he didn’t even know he carried off his back. His other friends just needed to be okay too, and everything would be alright.

(The relief he felt here was the same relief he’d felt when seeing Brock and Misty for the first time after they stayed behind to battle Molly.)

But then Gladion told him that the Pokemon his friends were battling would not stop, would not be defeated, would be perpetually revived by Nihilego, until Lusamine was freed. He sent Solgaleo and Lycanroc to help his friends. He hoped they were okay.

The Mother Beast scowled. “Not _them_ again,” she growled, in her dissonant voice not unlike smashing the keys of a piano. She grew herself a tower of rock.

“You’re _running away?”_ Lillie screamed.

“That’s because _you keep chasing me!”_

But Lillie, brave and determined, climbed the mountain anyway, determined to get to her mother no matter what. Ash and Gladion waited, realizing how important this was.

Lillie reached the top, looking Lusamine straight in the eyes, and declared “I _hate you!_ I _hate_ you!”

And Lusamine stopped her attack.

“You’ve only ever treated me like _dirt_ or a little baby! But _you’re_ the one acting like a spoiled, immature child! I don’t think you _ever_ cared like you said you did! I am _willing_ to give you a chance if you actually tried to be my mother, but you’re not! You’re a weak puppet and _nothing mor_ e. The way you’re acting now, you’re not really my mother,” and she took a shaky breath, “I _know_ you’ve been researching Ultra Beasts for a very long time, but don’t we matter more? Don’t _I_ matter more?”

Her eyes cleared. They were a bright green again, and there was an awareness in her gaze, and, sounding like she fought with everything she had to even get the word out, she grunted “Lil..lie?”

For a moment, it seemed like they’d won. For a moment, it seemed like Lillie had gotten through to her mother, and maybe, just maybe, Lusamine really did care. For a moment, it was silent.

And then the Nihilego filled up with black goo, growing bigger, resisting, full of hate and anger, and then rocks grew out of the ground, twisting and forming around it, shielding them in a purple pyramid.

If Ash and Gladion could just use their Z moves together, then!

Oh. Gladion had already used his.

“It’s up to you, Ash. Use your Z move! We’ll back you up!”

And this was it. This was the moment where he had to step in, where he had to play the hero, and he was more than ready to do it. “Pikachu, come on, let’s get in closer!”

The two of them, Pikachu and Ash, Ash and Pikachu, ran together, pushing against the limits of gravity, jumping as high and fast as they could to get to the top of the mountain (it was much taller now). He didn’t trip, didn’t misstep, not once. He was going to do this. _They_ were going to do this, together.

Ash could feel his determination to save the day, to save Lusamine, building and burning within him like a fire and he could feel it within Pikachu too. His buddy’s electricity crackled, staticky and powerful. In the darkness of Ultra Space, it seemed to glow.

“Pikachu, are you ready?”

“Pika!”

He looked down at his wrist and…a new Z crystal formed on the spot! It was shaped like a lightning bolt and he could tell this one was different, it was stronger, and it was special. He _felt_ the energy pulsing out of it.

He tossed his hat to Pikachu, and, without consciously thinking about it, he knew that he had to push more of himself into this Z move than he ever had before. He glanced down towards Lillie and Gladion. They knew already, at least somewhat, right? It was okay if they saw?

What about Lusamine?

He really hoped she wasn’t fully in her right mind, that she wasn’t fully aware.

He really hoped she wasn’t going to remember most of this.

He felt the determination and his energy building, building, like fire in his veins (hot but not painful), swelling in his core. He took a deep breath in, a deep breath out, steadying himself. Sweat beaded on his brow.

And even though there was no airflow in Ultra Space, a breeze ruffled his hair, and he opened his eyes. He was ready. “Ready, Pikachu?”

And with a nod of the yellow mouse’s head, together they built up their own energies. He felt in sync with Pikachu (and in some way, it was more so than a regular than a normal Z move. This felt a little more like it did with Greninja…) and he could _feel_ the electricity crackling through his own body, staticky and strong, like he was in Pikachu’s shoes. He _felt_ Pikachu push out lighting from his cheeks, two large bolts connecting into a circle, thin at first, growing thicker, thicker, hotter, stronger, brighter. It cracked with the intensity of thunder.

This felt much stronger than any attack from Zapdos he’d ever felt.

Ash himself felt his own energy build, and when it was ready, he pushed it out of his hands, and his heart, swirling blue winding like water around the crackling yellow, creating an intense glow around the two of them.

From far away, it looked like a halo.

And then it swirled together, all together, into a funnel, growing stronger with each second.

Ash pushed more out— and then suddenly something was wrong. Suddenly something was wrong, because he’d felt it before, and he felt it now. The energy of this place, of Ultra Space, it was all wrong. It was…more powerful than normal— he felt almost super-powered, but it was tinged with evil. It was tinged with evil, and malice, and the pure energy blue of his aura was blended with a— a navy color, darker and hotter yet colder. It was worse. It didn’t feel very good, pulsing through his body.

It was evil. It _felt_ like the Nihilego, and he couldn’t control it. It was so much more powerful than he was used to. He couldn’t even hope to control it— he just hoped that he was powerful enough to wield it. He just hoped it would be enough to solve this whole fiasco.

The funnel, with blue and yellow, turned into—almost black, it was so dark, and purple, contrasting with the still-bright yellow of Pikachu’s electricity. Pikachu squeaked out a quick question. He could feel the difference too, but they couldn’t focus on it right now, not when other Nihilego were coming, now. Gladion and Lillie were hopefully trying to fend them off, but there were just too many. They were attracted to Ash and Pikachu— either from the light show or from the energy itself (he’d felt it earlier, too, when they’d tried to surround him).

So now here he was, pushing his out-of-control tainted (corrupted) aura into a giant funnel with Pikachu, electricity crackling around both of them, while a horde of Nihilego came to join the fray, swirling around them, surrounding them, moving like a merry-go-round, giving Ash the feel that he and Pikachu were spinning very fast even though they weren’t moving. They each pushed out beams and strikes of their own energy from the main funnel at the Nihilego, and while it struck down some, it wasn’t nearly enough.

And suddenly Ash realized. They needed to reach the apex of this. If they did, if they did, and if they had enough power, they could not only free Lusamine, but they could defeat all the Nihilego in one fell swoop.

“Okay, Pikachu, do you know what to do?”

An affirmation.

The funnel then centralized into an enormous ball, rotating in a perfect, ever-changing sphere around Pikachu, as he almost _flew_ into the air, until he was hovering far above Ash. “Much stronger than a regular Thunderbolt,” and he took a deep breath here, looking around at all of their opponents once more, before he steeled himself to focus on Pikachu and only Pikachu. “ _Ten_ _Million Volt Thunderbolt!”_

And the sphere contracted and then _exploded,_ shooting out of Pikachu in every direction like a bomb in a million colors altogether. Of course there was the yellow and blue, but there was red and purple and orange and green and violet and pink and every color he could possibly think of, all directed towards Lusamine and the Nihilego. The entire mountain (the entire Ultra Space, really) was so bright it was blinding, for just a second, and Ash had to shield his eyes, and he could _feel_ the heat, he could _feel_ the energy, not just in himself, but also from the blast, and his hair was singed, and it stood on end, and he was exhilarated.

That was _so_ powerful.

The Nihilego were gone. Probably incinerated. Ash couldn’t bring himself to care. The pyramid of rock was gone. The Mother Beast was gone. Its body fell to the floor, helpless, but Lusamine was sinking into it. Ash could barely stand, and he couldn’t pull her out by himself, but thankfully Gladion and Lillie were there, and together the three of them pulled, as hard as they could, until Lusamine was freed.

She was freed, and she looked up, tired and confused, and focused her eyes on Lillie. “Lillie, is that you?”

And Lillie was _crying,_ and for all that she’d told her mother she hated her before, that seemed to have been forgotten. She threw herself onto Lusamine, sobbing with relief, muttering “I knew it, I knew you cared, I _knew_ you were my mother!”

And Ash tried his best not to cringe, too tired to keep up a mask, too tired to really even think, but still, but still, he _knew_ that Lusamine wasn’t who Lillie thought she was. And he felt…bad, for her, because he’d been proud, amazed, for her to stand up to her mom, for _once._ And now. He wished, he wished with all his heart that Lusamine was who Lillie wanted her to be. He wished it so badly.

He knew, though, it wasn’t the case. Sure, the Nihilego were evil— he could feel that much— and exacerbated egotistical tendencies, but she’d been like that before. And Gladion…he looked at Lillie, disturbed but reticent, and then past her at Lusamine, and his disgust deepened on his face, eyes darkening. Beyond that, though, he wouldn’t stop glancing at Ash, and then Lillie was too, and he really, _really_ tried to ignore it, because he knew _exactly_ why they were looking at him, and he knew they had a million questions each and he had neither the energy nor the will to answer a single one.

Then he heard the concerned and joyous cries of his friends, and he whirled around to see them, safe and sound on Solgaleo’s back, and he was filled with relief, shoulders slumping and a stupidly large smile spreading over his face. Rotom asked about the giant flash of energy, and Ash was suddenly filled with some sort of proud mischief. He shared a glance with Pikachu, both of them smiling, and then proudly announced “It was a new Z move! 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt! Me and Pikachu were awesome together, weren’t we buddy?”

His best friend responded in kind, with an excited squeak and a crackle of electricity (they both snickered just a little at how that puffed up Ash’s hair). And Ash was hit with the immense gratitude that _everything was okay,_ because everything had turned out okay, and he was so _happy._

Then he was reminded of Lusamine again and he wasn’t so happy (he didn’t want to think about any of the other things at the back of his mind, intruding, insistent, and ready to consume him if he didn’t push them to the side).

Lusamine was still groggy and disoriented, but she thanked everyone (and her eyes lingered on Ash, and he hoped, he _hoped,_ that she didn’t remember how exactly he’d performed the new Z move). They all hopped onto Solgaleo’s back together, and then it was opening the Ultra Wormhole so they could come back home.

On the way back though, Ash looked at Lusamine, and his resolve hardened. He’d been wrong to doubt himself. Lusamine had never been well-meaning. She was manipulative, and she’d gotten to him, but he wouldn’t let it happen again.

Lusamine had acted just like Molly— like a spoiled, lonely child. The difference was, Molly was six. Lusamine was an adult. An adult with a lot of power.

The irony of this whole situation wasn’t lost on him— how similar it was to that time all those years ago. A mother taken away by a beast— Lusamine taken by Nihilego, Delia taken by Entei— to a barren crystalline wasteland whose one goal was to keep their victims happy forever and trapped away from everyone else— like how Lusamine wanted to stay in Ultra Space forever, convinced a world such as this was more beautiful than Earth, like how Molly was convinced that Delia and Entei were her real mother and father, that she finally had a happy family even though it couldn’t have been further from the truth. Ash and his friends had to go in to save the day, and one by one his friends stayed behind to battle, to let him go ahead (Misty and Brock, Kiawe, Lana, Sophocles, Mallow, Lillie, and Gladion.) Him, at the very end, fighting for his life, to save the victim, to break the illusion.

It wasn’t lost.

But Lusamine wasn’t as naive as a child. She knew. She _knew_ the destruction she could cause— she knew _exactly,_ because she’d been studying Ultra Beasts for years. Lusamine viewed people as objects to be _used,_ the way she wanted to use Ash’s aura, the way she used Lillie and Gladion, and even Faba. The way she used people through manipulation, through her saccharine words and sugar-coated lies. Lusamine used people, like how J took away and stole the livelihoods of living beings, like the way Lysandre and Cyrus were willing to kill and erase everyone off the face of the Earth for their own selfish goals.

Lusamine was so unlike J, in the way that she _seemed_ so sweet, and nice, and caring to her daughter (not when behind closed doors) and that she was trying hard to be known and viewed as caring. But at the same time, they were so similar. In their goals, in their ambitions, and their obsession with power. 

In their volatility and the way they both slowly lost control.

They were so alike in the way they viewed living beings— as worthless, toys to be bought and used and thrown away when they were done. At least J had been more forthcoming.

Lusamine and J were the same.

And Ash _wouldn’t_ forget it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! I can't promise a specific time for the next chapter to be out-- it depends on how long it ends up being. I'm guessing TOPS two weeks, hopefully less, but no promises! Thanks for reading!


	6. Let it Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the heavens send disaster upon him, he would hate Arceus until the day he died (and beyond that, because he’d died before and it didn’t change how he felt), because it didn’t matter what he did— they would still make messes and then send him to clean it up, time and time again, and he was stuck, because it always happened, over and over and over, and he couldn’t stop it, and it was just so fucking funny.
> 
> He had to laugh, because if he didn’t laugh, he would cry, falling into despair.
> 
> He started to cry anyway, not sure if the tears were from the laughter or in spite of it. It didn’t really matter, because the laughter was turning into crying, big heaving sobs, and Pikachu was on his chest, pushing against him, calling out his name desperately, trying to snap him out of it, but he couldn’t, he couldn’t, because didn’t Pikachu understand too? It was the same for him, they were stuck together, Pikachu and Ash, Ash and Pikachu, best friends until the very end, and through thick and thin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter finally out! I think it's been exactly a week, actually :). I hope everyone's had an okay holiday season! This year is really different, and it's really hard for everyone, but I wish you well and that you were able to find some sort of happiness, even if you don't have anyone to celebrate with. I'm thinking of you and sending you well-wishes!!<3
> 
> In this chapter, just proceed with caution like usual. There a mental breakdown in here (and also, I realized, how much do I put my own feelings into this? More than I would think). Also, a couple f-bombs and other curse words like usual, you know the whole shebang.
> 
> Happy reading!

They landed on the sand, Kukui and Burnet absolutely freaked out, the Professor rushing to his students, helping Lusamine off, and asking everyone if they were okay. Burnet was at Ash’s side in a second, brushing his hair away from his face, looking into his eyes and asking if he was really _okay._ And that, more than anything, was almost enough to break the dam of emotions Ash was only just holding back. He could barely keep the tears at bay (and _why?_ He was supposed to be _fine)_ but leaned into her touch anyway. Pikachu sighed in his lap, still drained from their Z move earlier. Rotom was buzzing around excitedly, going on and on about how _cool_ Ash’s new Z move was, and while he appreciated the praise, he wasn’t really in the mood for attention on him.

Fortunately (and yet, it made bitterness fester within him), Lusamine was the focus. She looked like she’d been to the Distortion World and back (Ash should know) and she was still barely responding. Lillie cradled her mother the best she could, petting her hair, hugging her tightly, and on the verge of tears, and Ash was ready to be sick.

For more than one reason. He _hated_ that Lusamine had manipulated her daughter, and he hated how she manipulated _everyone,_ how she’d manipulated him, too, caused all those doubts to enter his mind, and how everyone was _concerned_ about her rather than angry, rather than confrontational.

Because he was almost always ready to forgive the villains when they showed true remorse (Damon came to mind), but when they got away scot-free without anyone even realizing they were a villain in the first place—-!

And the fact was, there was _more_ to come, he knew it, because Lusamine would be free to do whatever she wanted

He just hoped, he hoped with everything he had, that he was wrong. He hoped that he was wrong, that Lusamine _was_ really the victim in all this, that she was just misguided, that she was driven crazy by grief and had no malicious intentions.

He wasn’t going to doubt himself again (a little voice in his mind, even now, questioned if he should really be dealing in absolutes at this point. He ignored it.).

They got off Solgaleo’s back, and when Ash’s feet touched the ground he suddenly wasn’t so sure that he could stand on his own, wobbly and he really only caught himself by holding onto the legendary’s back for one more moment. Apparently, the Z move hadn’t just taken a lot out of Pikachu (it made sense, even if Ash didn’t want to admit it, because he’d struggled to deal with the corruption of his aura in Ultra Space. Also, though he wasn’t sure, it felt as though the Nihilego had taken with them a portion of his strength).

And they were all going home, now, and he was so, so relieved that everyone was okay, that they’d _won,_ but it didn’t feel like a normal victory. It didn’t feel like a “Mission accomplished, good work everyone!” Ash was still reeling, because it felt like they were still in danger, the adrenaline hadn’t left him yet, and he was still on high alert, as if something would jump out and ambush them. He wouldn’t let his guard down. He couldn’t, not anymore, and he couldn’t possibly feel comfortable (if he ever had in the first place) around the President of Aether Paradise.

Soon enough, they reached the house, and he was alone with Professor Kukui and Burnet, meaning it wouldn’t be as easy to put on a happy face (when they were in the big group, it was almost effortless (maybe not as effortless as it used to be) to seem okay (he _was_ okay) because they were too busy dealing with Lusamine and everyone else, who were more bothered by the whole experience— they weren’t as used to playing the hero as he was (was that cocky?)).

Still, he tried his hardest to be brave, and to be strong, because the adults themselves were freaked out by this, and they needed him to be strong too, for their own sake. If he wasn’t okay in front of them, they’d only get more worried, and that wouldn’t be fair to them— they were already stressed enough as it was. Being an adult shouldn’t have to mean that you put aside your own worries to deal with everyone else’s problems (ignoring the fact that that was _exactly_ what he was doing, but it was okay, because he was used to it).

“Ash, are you okay? That was a pretty scary thing up there in Ultra Space, huh? It’s okay to not be okay.”

If he said he was fine, they wouldn’t buy it, and they would press him until he felt guilty for lying and would spill everything anyway. But it wasn’t a lie, because he should be fine, so why didn’t he feel fine?

“Professor Kukui, it _was_ a little scary, but I think I’m okay. I was mostly worried about Lillie and Gladion and Lusamine, and now that they’re okay, I feel a lot better.”

And it seemed that it was enough for Kukui— because he _was_ telling the truth, but maybe not the whole truth— but also he cemented their beliefs that even if he wasn’t fine right now, he _would_ be fine.

Except.

“Ash, honey, are you sure? You look a little pale!”

“That’s probably just leftover because of the cool new Z move Pikachu and I did together! 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt! It was _so_ strong! It was all rainbows and electricity and it crackled and—! It was so _cool!_ But it took a lot out of both of us, right bud? Besides, I haven’t eaten _all_ day, and I’m starving!”

He wasn’t _lying,_ not really, because everything he’d said was all true, he just wasn’t telling the _whole_ truth. But— what the Professors didn’t know couldn’t hurt them, right?

No one was really in the mood to actually cook— all too tired— but Professor Kukui pulled out some frozen dinners for each of them, and they ate in silence. What was there to say?

Ash excused himself from the table early, saying he was extra tired and wanted to get to sleep early.

-.-.-.-

He was trying to ignore it. Doubts, uncertainties, memories, _emotions—_ they were all distractions, and they kept pushing insistently, intruding on his mind, which didn’t make _sense,_ because he was _fine,_ he was _fine,_ it had all worked out okay and there was no reason to get worked up about it or even think about it.

There was no reason to _dwell._

In the silence of the night, though, he couldn’t stop them from intruding anyways, so he jumped out of bed and went outside, onto the beach, until the house was a good distance away. Pikachu followed— he didn’t even need to look to see that.

Ash didn’t know what he wanted to do now. The intrusions kept poking at his mind— _they saw, they saw, you’re wrong, you’re messed up._

_This is just like before. You can never escape it._

_Chosen One._

He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched, that he was in danger, that she was after him, that she would be just like Hunter J, that she would be just like Lysandre. He couldn’t shake the feeling.

“Pikachu, do you wanna— do you wanna _try,_ try what we did before? It was _so cool!”_

He knew he was being stupid, out in the open like this, but he didn’t really care. He—couldn’t think straight, his mind too chaotic and distracted (with these stupid _negative emotions,_ he should be _fine)_ and he knew that running wasn’t going to work this time, to distract him from the chaos.

A deep breath in, a deep breath out, centralizing himself, because if he couldn’t focus on getting some sleep, maybe he could focus on training his aura. He felt it build up, not as urgent this time, but changed all the same. He felt it branch out— and here, he’d intended to go slowly, but instead it came out with a flash, powerful and with a strong recoil, sending him back a few feet, and this was wrong, again. This felt the same sort of wrong that it felt in Ultra Space, corrupted and evil, unnatural. Wrong.

It was darker than normal, and while it wasn’t as bad as it was in the other dimension, the light blue of his normal energy was dappled with the darker, hotter, more intense Ultra Energy. And he couldn’t control it, he knew he couldn’t control it, and he immediately stopped, the bright light extinguishing, leaving them in the darkness of the stars again.

“Pikachu, did you— did you see that? Did you _feel that?_ There’s something _wrong_ with my aura, it’s tainted, it’s evil, it’s— it’s from Ultra Space! It’s from the Nihilego! I’m— _scared,_ because I can’t control it anymore. It’s too powerful.”

And he fell down on the sand, disappointed and drained— emotionally and physically— because he’d never given himself even a moment of solace, of rest, to recuperate from the mission to save Lusamine. And yet, at the same time he was so tired, he was so, so exhausted, he felt exhilarated. Exhilarated, because even though his aura was all wonky and weird now, it felt so powerful, pulsing through his veins.

And he felt so hopeless. He felt so alone, and he couldn’t get over today, because the images kept flashing in his head, of the pleasure she took in his pain, of the sick way she looked, corrupted. He was— he was _scared._

He was scared, and yet he was so goddamn relieved, because he’d won, and it was over, but it wasn’t, and his mind was a jumbled mess of confused happiness and sadness, relief and fear, all together, and he couldn’t help but laugh. He couldn’t help but laugh, and laugh, hysterically, because there was nothing better to do, because this was the same fucking thing that always happened, because he was _stuck,_ he was always moving, always adventuring, even in Alola, and yet he was _stuck,_ because no matter how much he ran he couldn’t run away from the world. He couldn’t run away from the world ending— it followed him.

Stupid _Arceus._

Let the heavens send disaster upon him, he would hate Arceus until the day he died (and beyond that, because he’d died before and it didn’t change how he felt), because it didn’t matter what he did— they would still make messes and then send him to clean it up, time and time again, and he was stuck, because it always happened, over and over and over, and he couldn’t stop it, and it was _just so fucking funny._

He had to laugh, because if he didn’t laugh, he would cry, falling into despair.

He started to cry anyway, not sure if the tears were from the laughter or in spite of it. It didn’t really matter, because the laughter was turning into crying, big heaving sobs, and Pikachu was on his chest, pushing against him, calling out his name desperately, trying to snap him out of it, but he couldn’t, he couldn’t, because didn’t Pikachu understand too? It was the same for him, they were stuck together, Pikachu and Ash, Ash and Pikachu, best friends until the very end, and through thick and thin.

Through the end of the world.

Endlessly.

He couldn’t stop the tears, he couldn’t stop them from coming, and he didn’t care anymore, he didn’t care, and then Pikachu wasn’t pleading for him to stop anymore, silent. And that, more than anything, broke Ash out of it, because Pikachu’s ears were perked and he was looking urgently to something off in the distance.

He couldn’t see anything through the dark, but he could feel it, and then he knew who it was. He was still out of earshot, but he was coming, which gave Ash the time to collect himself, at least a little. He couldn’t look okay— he was too far gone for that, but at least he could have _some_ dignity. He wiped away his tears, rubbed his face as much as he could, and jumped to his feet, ready to face the person coming towards him.

Now they could see each other, lit by the light of the moon, and there was surprise on Gladion’s face. “Ash? What are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night.”

“I could say the same thing to you.”

They stared, neither relenting— though Gladion looked more like he was searching Ash, and he didn’t like how that made him feel vulnerable. Finally, Gladion spoke again. “I was coming out here to think. The waves always help me.”

“Thinking about today?”

A warning glance. It didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about it— at least not until Ash did, at least.

“I guess I’m thinking, too.”

Gladion looked at him again, and Ash knew there was no way he _couldn’t_ tell he’d been crying, but he was tasteful enough not to mention it. And then, in an action unlike what Ash ever expected from the other boy, Gladion sat on the sand, indicating with his head for Ash to join him.

Maybe Ash didn’t know as much as he thought he did, he noted absently. 

He sat, then, not too close, but close enough. They weren’t quite friends— they were in that territory between mutual acquaintance and friend, bonded through shared experiences but both too stubborn to humble themselves.

That’s what nights like this were for, where vulnerable moments shared under the moon stayed under the moon.

They sat in silence, for a long time. It stretched, peacefully, the waves crashing on the shore, providing a soundtrack to the thoughts playing on repeat through his head. Finally, finally, Ash spoke up. “You..probably have a lot of questions, don’t you? About today, about what happened, about what I did, right?”

There wasn’t a response— and Ash didn’t really want one, either. The quiet stretched, again. “There’s Team Skull here, right? That’s the evil Team for Alola. Have you heard of any of the other ones, for the other regions? Team Rocket, or Magma, Aqua, Galactic, Plasma, or— or Team Flare?”

Gladion finally, finally, looked away from the sea and over at Ash. “…Team Flare. They were behind the Kalos Crisis, that happened last year.”

“Team Flare. Lysandre was their leader.”

Gladion nodded but didn’t say anything, a little confused about where Ash was going with this. “Lysandre was an evil man. He was a scientist, and he used to be well-meaning. He’d wanted to help everyone. He grew angry with the way people wanted more and more, and his reaction was to grow bitter and hateful to the world. He let that hate fester. He threw himself into his hate, into his anger, and let it color his entire worldview, until he believed the world was not worth living in. He believed no one _else_ deserved to live in the world, either.”

Ash let the conversation pause for just long enough it seemed like he was done, before he started again. “He decided that the solution was to create a new world— to destroy this one, and to let only the people _he decided_ were “chosen” to live in the new one, which would rise out of the ashes of our current world. He built a _team_ out of that vision, collecting enough people that believed in the same cause, and he almost destroyed Kalos. He almost killed millions of people. He almost succeeded,” and here, in a voice so quiet Gladion wasn’t sure he was supposed to hear it at all, he said, “He almost convinced me, too.”

And here, and here, Gladion looked over, surprised. Ash was there, sure, but he’d been close enough to the center of the conflict that he was almost convinced?

Ash made eye contact with him. “Lusamine mentioned aura. You saw me use it, you and Lillie. You seemed surprised.”

Gladion took a deep breath. “I’ve only heard about it in stories. I’ve never heard of anyone in real life…”

Ash turned back to the ocean, clenching his fists. “Aura users are _rare._ That makes them valuable. And there are people, evil people, who want that power. People who want the power of not just Pokemon, but of people. Lysandre was like that. There was a woman, too. Her name was J. She was a bounty hunter in Sinnoh. Have you heard of her?”

Ash wasn’t looking, but Gladion shook his head anyway. “She was a terrible person. She stole Pokemon and sold them on the black market, taking away their lives and their livelihoods without a second thought! I hated her so much.”

Ash shifted so he was laying on his back, staring at the stars. “Then she learned about the aura I had, and she went crazy. She wanted that power. She was _psychotic,_ unhinged, and willing to do anything to get her hands on it. She hurt me. She hurt a lot of people. I wasn’t afraid of her, at first, because I thought I could face her. I’d faced others like her before and I thought I could do it again, but she was different. Even the others I’d faced hadn’t been so heartless, so sadistic.”

He took a deep breath in, still teary-eyed. “She scared me. She was like a predator, and she was willing to destroy, to _kill,_ anything, to get her hands on the power she thought I had. She burned a forest down without remorse. And she drove herself insane, with just the idea of possessing power for herself and the thought of what she could use it for.”

He sat up, again, and look toward Gladion, whose eyes held…something, in them. It was hard to tell in the moonlight, but there was a wide array of conflicted emotions in them. The boy opposite him kept a tight guard on his emotions (maybe he got that from his mother) and Ash had always found it hard to read him, to puzzle him out. He couldn’t tell it by feeling him. But it seemed like he was…confused, and angry (on Ash’s behalf), and amazed, and…humbled, maybe, because he was surprised— because Ash had told him all this, and because apparently there was a lot more to the excitable boy from Kanto that what it seemed on the surface.

Was there pity, too? He hoped not. Ash was not _pathetic,_ not something to be pitied. He’d gone through what he’d gone through and he’d come out stronger.

Finally, Ash spoke again. “Years ago, I learned from an old friend about the word _megalomaniac_. Do you know what that is?”

“…Someone who is obsessed with gaining power, often through criminal methods, without remorse.”

Ash nodded. “Megalomaniacs can get power in different ways. Maybe they decide who gets to live or die, creating their own world from the destruction of our current one. Maybe they steal, to get money, or are willing to _kill_ to get power. _Maybe_ they’re obsessed with Ultra Beasts.”

Gladion whipped his head to Ash, intense and searching. “You believe Lusamine is a megalomaniac.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“Do you not?”

He paused, before shaking his head. “I do,” and those words carried the weight of the world.

“…What happened, Gladion?”

He narrowed his eyes at Ash, conflicted, deciding whether to trust the boy opposite him. He waited, and waited, and Ash was starting to accept that Gladion wasn’t going to tell him, that he’d poured his heart out and that there would be no reciprocation, before Gladion finally took a shaky breath in and looked, sincerely, at Ash.

“She was fine at first. Not great. But fine. Our father was taken by an Ultra Beast— you know that— and then she delved into her work, ignoring Lillie and me completely, more content to study her obsession than to care about her children. She had this ideal of a perfect family— she talked about it a lot— and she wanted us to reach that. She believed that if she just had Mohn back, or if she was able to understand Ultra Beasts, she would reach this ideal, but all she did was make it more unattainable with her actions.”

He looked to the ocean, away from Ash, as his usually tightly controlled voice filled with emotion, in an unguarded moment. “She was a workaholic, and she was more absorbed into Aether Paradise, and then the Ultra Beast hurt Lillie, and then she couldn’t touch Pokemon. And Lusamine was _there._ She was there, but she pretended like she wasn’t— she still does. And that was when I knew that she didn’t care about us. She didn’t— her actions were clear about her motivations. And I—!”

He didn’t talk, for a long, long, time. Ash waited. He waited, and he waited, watching the waves hit the shore. The tide had receded since they’d first sat here. He listened, as they crashed, pulled back, crashed, pulled back, leaving a foamy film on the sand. Gladion continued, finally. “I confronted her. I told her that she was obsessed with these Ultra Beasts and that she didn’t care about Lillie and me anymore. I told her she didn’t even really care about Father anymore— all she cared about was her precious beasts, all she cared about was getting to Ultra Space, was opening an Ultra Wormhole, because she didn’t care that an Ultra Beast had hurt Lillie. She didn’t care. She…was really angry. We fought. A lot. And I couldn’t handle it anymore. I couldn’t handle living with a mother who didn’t care, with a sister I was scared to even touch. I couldn’t handle seeing my mother grow in her obsession, spending longer and longer days at Aether Paradise, and saying that we would be a perfect family once again, once she could _control_ the Ultra Beasts, once she had their power, that everything would be okay, because _she_ was the problem!”

Gladion cut off here, and to his horror, he was fighting off his own tears. He hadn’t cried in _years. Years!_ What was _wrong_ with him?

He squeezed his eyes shut, turning away from Ash, and the other trainer, to his credit, turned away as well, giving Gladion the same courtesy he’d given Ash, earlier.

Finally, finally, he got himself under control. “I ran away. And I don’t regret leaving. All I regret was leaving Lillie there by herself with Mother.”

He looked at Ash again. “So yes, I think Lusamine is a megalomaniac.”

They both sat in silence, then. There was nothing else to say, really. They understood each other a lot more, now. And maybe they weren’t friends, yet. Maybe they were. That didn’t matter. What mattered was the mutual understanding between them, and the moon on their backs, and the stars above, and the waves crashing against the shore.

The quiet was comfortable. No longer was it awkward, or emotionally charged. It draped over them like a blanket, warm and soft and comforting. And this felt better. The silence was better. They didn’t need to talk, anymore. They’d talked enough.

Ash had no idea how long passed. Pikachu was long asleep on his lap, and their tears were long dried, and the moon was lower in the sky. The constellations had changed. But sleep was still a long way from both of them, and that was okay. A breeze came through, ruffling the palm trees in the distance. Over the sea, he could see the lights of ocean liners, and clusters of land lined with the same yellow glow of lights, and he could tell. That was Poni Island, and that was Ula’ula, and that was Akala. They laid asleep, and so did Melemele, while the two trainers stayed awake.

-.-.-.-

The first time Ash and Greninja had accidentally bonded during battle, Ash had been confused. He’d looked around, after feeling the almost-telepathic tug on his aura, his energy, and reached out, looking. Was it…Riolu? Was Riolu trying to communicate with him? It had felt just like it, like their aura bond, like when he was on J’s ship— they shared pain the same way. But then _Greninja_ had been hurt in battle and Ash felt it in the same place and he realized— it wasn’t Riolu.

Besides, when he thought about it more, while they felt fundamentally the same, they were really different. Greninja’s cool, flowing energy, advancing and receding like the tide, was different from the warm, more emotionally charged and sudden connection of Riolu. And one was based purely on a matching aura— in sudden moments they would crash into each other before separating once again, and they had to work at it more to keep up the connection. With Greninja, it just _happened,_ because one moment Ash was getting so into the battle, moving in sync with Greninja, when suddenly the Pokemon’s essence would wash over his trainer like a waterfall, cold but effortless. Their hearts literally moved together, in sync, and it connected their souls, their pain, and their emotions.

It had been _exhilarating._ And then it was scary, because the more he did it, they got more out of sync right when they pushed themselves too hard, and it was as though their souls, which over the course of the battle had grown so close Ash wasn’t sure where he ended and Greninja began, were ripped apart so violently his breath was stolen from him, and blood rushed in his ears, and then he’d pass out, and it _hurt._

But they’d gained this strength together, and this new bond, and Ash couldn’t ignore the fact that Pikachu had been clinging extra close to him when they slept, and how he sat on the sidelines of battle, distraught and sad. He couldn’t ignore it, because he knew exactly the reason. And so, on the night after Ash’s battle with Diantha, where the Champion of Kalos had been impressed by bond-evolution, he sat down with his best friend.

“Pikachu, buddy, can you look at me?”

He did, but Ash could see pain in his eyes, no matter how he tried to hide it. Ash and Pikachu couldn’t hide things from each other. Not anymore. “Pikachu, I noticed that you’ve been jealous about what’s been happening with Greninja and me.”

And here, the electric mouse withdrew, almost hissing, and trying to act aloof. “Come on, buddy, please listen to me, okay? You know you’ll never be replaced, right? Never ever. You will always, _always_ be number one in my heart. Sure, Greninja and I have this new thing, and I love and trust him— same as he does me— but he hasn’t been with me through everything like you have. Can you trust me on this?”

And Pikachu softened, but he still wasn’t looking Ash in the eyes. He countered, replying that it wasn’t _fair,_ because _Pikachu_ was the one who’d been with Ash for years, and why was _Greninja_ the one with the special bond? Did Ash feel _closer_ to Greninja? Was Greninja more special than Pikachu? Was Pikachu going to be—

—replaced?

Ash’s eyes widened, and, louder than necessary, he shouted “No! Never! Not _ever_ Pikachu, do you understand that? I don’t _know_ why I’m like this with Greninja, but it’s not because he’s better than you or I’m closer to him! It will never be that! I love him with all my heart, but you will _never_ be replaced.”

And his fists clenched in Pikachu’s fur. "Pikachu, we're family, right? You understand that you are my family no matter what. All of my Pokemon are, but _you're_ the one who's come with me, region after region after region, and that's never gonna change. And...don't blame Greninja," there was a protesting squeak from Pikachu, "I'm not saying you do! But I understand that when you feel hurt, it's easier to pin the blame on someone else. Don't do that buddy, okay? I love you. I love Greninja too. I love all my Pokemon. There is a special place in my heart for every single one of you, and I have a big enough heart that I'll never run out of room. _You're_ my best friend, and you always will be."

There was a pause. "And I'm really sorry, because I've been _ignoring_ all of you, and it's my fault, and--"

He was interrupted with a light shock, leaving him confused and just a little annoyed. "What was _that_ for, Pikachu?"

_No,_ Ash was _wrong,_ he hadn't been ignoring everyone! He _wasn't_ a bad person (and Ash shut his mouth here, the protest he'd planned effectively shut down)!

"I'm sor--"

\-- _Don't_ apologize. Don't even talk anymore, Pikachu insisted. This wasn't going to go anywhere, because Ash was being stupid and blaming himself which wasn't the _point_ of this whole thing!

"I--okay, Pikachu. If I agree not to blame myself, then you have to agree not to ever think I'll replace you, okay?"

And they were okay, then, but still, Ash needed to get stronger, for Greninja’s sake (and for Pikachu, too, and his other Pokemon, of course.) Ash pushed himself as hard as he could, and it _seemed_ to help. But then he battled for his eighth badge against Wulfric. And he was so, so focused on _winning,_ feeling dejected after losing to Sawyer (even though he was _happy_ for his friend, he couldn’t help feeling inadequate) and he’d lost sight of his bond with his Pokemon. He’d been so focused on _himself_ (he didn't trust that he was good enough), he hadn’t even thought about his Pokemon. And he pushed Greninja, he pushed their bond _hard,_ but they weren’t really in sync, because Ash wasn’t thinking about battling _with_ his Pokemon.

It cost him not only his victory in the gym, but he felt he'd hurt his Pokemon. He pushed too far, _especially_ Greninja— too reliant on this unreliable new power, and Greninja was injured. _Badly._ He was put under intensive care at the Pokemon Center and Ash felt awful, _awful,_ and he'd apologized but it wasn't enough, and he’d ran out into the forest. This felt a little (just a little) like his battle with Paul years ago, how dejected he’d been, but this was different. It was the same, sure, the way both of those devastating losses had been his fault because it was his fault, but this time Ash wasn’t going to run away to wallow in self-pity. He was way past that. No, he was going to really _work_ on himself, to figure out what had caused him to act the way he did, and he was determined not to come out until he was a better person for it.

He didn’t _care_ when the blizzard came through. Serena, in a rare moment, made him _angry_ for the first time, because she came through acting like she knew exactly what he felt, when she had no idea (he knew, somewhere in his mind, that he was probably being unfair, and that she just wanted to help him in her own way, but did she not understand that he was _allowed_ to feel negative emotions? He’d never really allowed himself, but he finally was, here, and she told him that he wasn’t acting like the Ash she knew. What if the Ash she knew wasn’t who she thought he was? He didn’t _have_ to be perfect all the time!)

His mind kept going back to Greninja, and his guilt, and how he needed to push himself to _be better,_ but to work _with_ his Pokemon. Going off alone was exactly the wrong thing to do if he wanted to focus on working _with_ them, but he didn’t care— because Serena was right (some part of his mind disagreed-- maybe the same part that told him he _was allowed_ to feel this way. He ignored it.) Because he wasn’t being the Ash everyone wanted. He wasn’t being the Ash _he_ wanted to be— he was being selfish, and he needed to focus on Greninja.

Even in the snow, when all he could focus on was the cold seeping through his clothes, freezing and hurting, he felt the tug. He knew Greninja was _there,_ in the forest. And then they were working together, to save the Pokemon, and they bonded, and this time it was different, because they really _were_ in sync, and there was absolute trust again, nothing held back, and Greninja for _gave_ him, and then they’d mastered it. They’d finally mastered their bond evolution, and he came back to Wulfric, stronger than ever, and, working _with_ his Pokemon, they beat the gym leader.

Up on Prism Tower, when he felt the Mega Evolution Energy, when it tried to control their bond— it was different. It wasn’t just after their bond. The evil, painful energy went to his very core, corrupting his aura, twisting it red, hot, and sharp, so unlike the coolness of Greninja’s water, so unlike the purity of his— and Riolu’s own life energy.

They used their bond again, more powerful than ever, but it felt _different._ It was wrong, foreign, more powerful but harder to control. It was evil, encroaching, and they both felt it, and they both had to fight it off. And it was more than that. It didn’t feel _strained,_ but Ash was suddenly hyper-aware of everything. He could see and feel everything— from the distant crashes of battle on the lower floors of Prism Tower, to the screams of people hundreds of feet below, to Lysandre’s almost imperceptible growl, to how dirty his clothes were, to how much everything _hurt._ Everything was _more,_ and he couldn’t focus— it was like all of his senses were in overdrive, and the battle was just a small thing happening among everything else in the world. His energy was in haywire, reaching out to everything— he could feel everyone’s emotions, too, and they bombarded him until he wasn’t sure who he was anymore, what was him and what was other people. And that was nothing to say of Greninja— he lost himself within the Pokemon until he didn’t know where he ended and the shinobi frog began, and he was confused, and everything was _too much._

But then, he heard Greninja’s thoughts. He felt him, cool and calm and serene, letting his tranquility wash over Ash like a gentle rain. He directed his focus until the rest of the intruding emotions, thoughts, sounds, and sights washed away, until the battle in front of them was all that mattered, until it wasn’t so painful anymore, until the ringing in his ears stopped and he wasn’t confused. And he remembered— Greninja was _used_ to controlling something like this. He guided, gently, without words, his trainer to focus, and to fight, bravely, and with the utmost strength.

And when they fought the Megalith, the blue of Greninja’s Water Shuriken was _too_ blue to just be the blue of water, but that was okay, because they were stronger for it, working together, and if Ash’s energy was messed up and overpowered for now by the invasive, evil energy, he was going to take advantage of it, because they needed all the help they could get here, facing the end of the world (again).

And it didn’t matter anymore if he could feel just a little of the pain of the Mega Evolution energy every time he moved. It didn’t matter that Ash felt extra weak— physically, at least— because Greninja could lend him that strength.

It didn’t matter, because they were _together,_ and Greninja was helping Ash, and Ash was helping Greninja.

_-.-.-.-.-_

Ash was scared of his own aura. He felt it there, beating with his heart, with his breath, calling out to the spirit of Alola, but he forced it inside, ignoring how much it fought to _get out._ He couldn’t control it. And no one could really help him with it here, because he was scared to bring Riolu over— he didn’t want Lusamine to know, he didn’t want to endanger his friend— not when the woman already knew about Ash’s aura.

But still, the Ultra Energy hung around him like a virus, encroaching on his thoughts, on his energy, leaving him drained and conflicted. What was he supposed to _do?_

The answer _seemed_ obvious. Ignore it. But he’d been ignoring everything, and he could only ignore too many things before they all became too much, overflowing from the dark little corner of his mind he’d pushed them to, flashing at the forefront of his thoughts as if they were saying “Hey! I’m important! Deal with me!” so annoyingly that he knew he couldn’t push them away for much longer. Not when he was sure that he was going to be forced to face them sooner or later.

The second he saw Lusamine, he knew, he _knew,_ they would all escape at once, clouding his judgment, making him do something _stupid_ (more stupid and reckless than he was usually, which, he had to admit, was no small amount). So he _had_ to deal with it, but he didn’t want to, and he didn’t really see a way to, and so he was stuck (of course he was, he was stuck with everything), running down the beach for their morning exercise with his Pokemon, because even though he was moving, and running, he was always stuck in the same place, because there _was_ nowhere to run.

Stuff was going to happen, whether he wanted it to or not. It already had. He had to pick up the pieces, and if he ignored his problems, that wouldn’t make them go away.

No, they would just get worse.

So he didn’t know what to do, and he knew that Pikachu, not to mention his other Pokemon, were starting to pick up on his stress, and that wasn’t a good image, because trainers always had to be strong for their Pokemon, and they couldn’t show weakness— if a trainer didn’t believe in themselves, how could the Pokemon possibly place their faith in him? (Pikachu was the exception, but Pikachu was always the exception).

Ash’s thoughts were going in circles, and if he didn’t stop thinking he was going to spiral. 

Then, though, something changed. He felt a tug. And he’d felt it earlier, on the beach last night, but it had been so minor, and he’d been too distracted, and he’d pushed it away. Now, though, it was stronger, more insistent, and it wasn’t going to back down, and it only took him a second to realize what it was.

There was an immediate change in his demeanor and all the Pokemon noticed it. He sat down on the beach, and they rested next to him (not too close, though. For some reason, they knew that he needed his distance for this.)

It was _Riolu._ He was _there._ He’d felt Ash’s panic, his emotions, (so wild they’d reached across regions, apparently) and he’d been concerned. More than that, he’d felt something else. Something foreign. And the emanation Pokemon pushed, gentle but firm, on the back of Ash’s psyche, asking what _exactly_ had happened and what _exactly_ was the foreign energy he’d been sensing. It left no room for argument.

Ash had only a moment’s hesitation before he sent his memory out of himself, in a similar way he might have pushed out his aura— but instead of it being a physical manifestation of his energy, it was a thought, a memory, a feeling, projected across thousands of miles of ocean and land and sea and air, riding on the wind and the sun, and it was so inherent he didn’t have to try. (He remembered the first time it had happened, when he’d first met Riolu, when he’d gotten the sudden crash of emotion, of memory and feeling from Riolu, and he’d instinctively known exactly where to go to get to the Pokemon.

It only took a second— because rather than a memory that Riolu watched, he’d been given the same _knowledge_ about the situation Ash had. It only took a second, before he was pressing further, and Ash knew Riolu wanted him to use his aura. Had he been training?

Ash _had_ been training, and logically he should be able to let it flow. But it felt locked up inside of him, suddenly, and he tried to push it out (even though he was scared to) but nothing came. Nothing came, and this scared him more. He tried again, harder, and he wasn’t focused, but nothing came of it. Ash felt his aura, bubbling just beneath his skin, itching to come out, and for all that he’d been struggling to control it, to keep it inside, it just wouldn’t come.

He tried again. Nothing.

“Riolu! There’s nothing, I can’t use it!”

Riolu was a calming presence in his mind, stable and heavy. Riolu wanted him to try again, just to try. _No! Not yet! Take a deep breath, in and out, and focus, only on the feeling of the aura, on the energy, and notice how it flows through your body._

So Ash did. He tried to relax, and he focused on the comforting heat of Pikachu, and it was suddenly as though his senses were awakened again— though calmer, this time. He could feel the breeze, not only how it felt on his skin, but how it whispered in his hair, how it carried the energy of the eons, and he was reminded of Celebi and the Voice of the Forest. He could sense the tide, not only hearing how it crashed on the shore, not only tasting the salt in the air, but feel the tug on his energy, of Lugia’s distant presence, spread throughout the sea. He could _feel_ all of that, and it felt like a breath of fresh air after drowning underwater.

Then, though, he felt the needling pain of the Ultra Energy, beating with his heart, and he was afraid all over again. What if it was like this forever? He couldn’t use his aura! What if he hurt someone?

_Ash!_

Came the voice in his mind. _You’re scared. That is what is blocking you. That is what makes you unable to use your aura. Let it_ go _. It’s alright. I’m here to guide you._

Let it go. Let it go. He could do that. Ash could let it go. He looked down, into Pikachu’s eyes, into the silent, supporting strength within them. He looked at his other Pokemon, each of them confused but connected to him nonetheless, wanting to help him any way they could. They _loved_ him. They were _here._

He was never alone. He didn’t know how he ever forgot that.

Let it go. His gaze moved to the seafoam green of the ocean, with the sun above reflecting off the water, giving the ripples an ethereal glimmer. There was the great beyond out there.

Let it go. Ash closed his eyes, and he felt the fear radiating underneath his skin. The foreign energy was there, sure, but if he couldn’t deal with it right this moment, there was no point worrying. What had happened to his philosophy of _never fear_ , of _never give up ’til it’s over_?

Had Lusamine’s actions really given him this fear?

_Let it go_. He let go of the fear.

_Good. Now try again._

He tried, this time, and it came much easier— like it was before. And it was only a breath— the power he put into his aura was the equivalent of a whisper, but what came out was a yell. It flared at his hands, and while it stayed there, the implication was enough. He couldn’t control it.

_Your aura. It’s…tangled. You’ve been forcing it in._

Ash clenched his fists. He had. He couldn’t control it! How was he supposed to safely let it out, _ignoring_ the fact that it wasn’t safe to do it here anyway! Of _course_ it was tangled!

_Let me. Trust me, Ash._

Riolu’s presence in his mind now moved and flowed (and he couldn’t help being confused, for a second, because it almost felt like Greninja) through his heart, and his stomach, in knots, and the parts of his mind that were tied together, knotted and tangled and so chaotic he hadn’t wanted to touch them, lest he worsen the mess. Riolu’s warmth flowed through, and he could feel it untangle, slowly, carefully, without breaking anything.

It hurt, a little bit, but Ash wasn’t a child. He could handle it (Arceus, he knew he’d handled much worse when it came to his life energy).

And then it was over, and it bubbled underneath his skin again, not angry, but ready to escape. He wouldn’t be able to control it, but he had to let it out anyway, and he was about to seek out a place where he would do the least damage when Riolu stopped him.

Here, he spoke aloud. “Riolu, can you— how do I get rid of it? You’d know, right?”

There was a pause before the Pokemon answered. No. He couldn’t get rid of it— not on his own, anyway.

_Time will tell._

And Ash was suddenly reminded of a similar instance when he and Greninja had grappled with the Mega Evolution Energy. There, he’d carried it to Alola, but each day it receded a little more. By now, it was almost gone.

Would the Ultra Energy be the same?

_You need to control it._

…Riolu would teach him?

_Your issue is focus and a surplus of power you are unused to. You must focus, and you must center the surplus within your core._

Focus? Surplus?

_Allow me. Make an Aura Sphere and hold it._

As he focused, he felt Riolu’s aura within his own, and his own energy suddenly wasn’t as insistent as before. He could feel it, moving and centralizing at his core and _staying_ there, something he couldn’t do on his own. He closed his eyes and let it flow, letting the aura materialize in his hand and then focus into a ball (and wasn’t this so reminiscent of the first time he’d ever trained with Riolu? Was he going to have to start over?

Did he even have the time to do that, before he would have to deal with the destruction sure to follow in Aether Paradise’s wake?)

It was a lot easier, now, because it _was_ only a ball, like he’d intended it to be. He _had_ control. He had it for a second, before Riolu withdrew, and it grew in size, exploding in his face.

His hand was burned.

_Do you see what happened? With my help, you could control it, but you could not do it on your own._

He couldn’t help but remember Greninja. It was exactly the same— he hadn’t been able to handle the pain, the evil energy flaring within him. He’d been desperate, panicked, unfocused, and losing the battle before Greninja helped him to use their bond. He’d helped him focus.

Here, focus was again the issue.

But, still. Ultra Energy was more destructive on its own. Was it safe for him to train that without Riolu? Or would he hurt someone?

(Was he destined to always hurt people? Was destruction always destined to follow him, wherever he ran to?)

_I will be here for you when you need me, Ash. Reach out, anytime, and I will help you to the best of my ability._

Was that fair? What was Ash giving in return?

_You’ve given me more than I could have ever asked for. Do not forget the struggles you went through for my sake._

Ash hesitated, before deciding he needed to take all the help he could get (besides, he missed Riolu. He hadn’t been able to see the little Pokemon for a long while.)

“…Okay. I promise, Riolu. Thank you.”

And Ash, then, stood up, feeling much better than before.

He could do this. He could.

He had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter moved forward with more of the emotional work, compared to the plot, because I thought there were some important scenes that needed to be in here. Please let me know what you think in the comments!
> 
> Also, I put this at the top but I know this has been a really tough year. Here's to 2021! If you'd like, I'd love to hear even the littlest thing you found to appreciate/be thankful for this year or this holiday season. :) I'll start: I baked cookies and brought them to a friend!


	7. Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash hadn’t called him since Kalos. He didn’t tell anyone from home much, anymore, and that was worrying. He hoped that Ash had told someone, or at least had someone to rely on in Alola. It wasn’t healthy, to keep everything in as much as he was.
> 
> He hoped Ash would trust him again, someday.
> 
> Because one day, he was going to get in too deep, and his luck was going to run out.
> 
> And he didn’t want the boy coming home to Delia in a coffin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a new chapter!
> 
> As always, proceed with caution, but I don't think this is too much cursing (there might not be any actually. Look at that!!). There's some fighting and everything that comes with Lusamine interacting with the kids.

She sat in her study, poring over book after book, trying to find the answers. What was she _missing?_ There was one piece, a single piece, and she’d been so _close!_

There was a knock on the door, and that gave her pause. Who would be knocking? No one lived here other than her. She cleared her throat and collected herself, pasting on her smile as always. “Come in!”

Surprisingly enough, it was the butler. He stepped aside and standing there, shrunken in on herself, was Lillie. Lillie, who looked so timid— a direct contrast to the girl who’d stared into her mother’s eyes and yelled “I _hate_ you!”

The memory angered her and she had to take a moment to collect herself before she could look the girl in the eyes. “Hello, Lillie. Hobbes. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

And here, and here, Lillie broke through whatever was holding her back and ran to Lusamine, wrapping her arms around her and burying her face into her dress. There was a knee-jerk reaction, a gut response of disgust rising in her, but she pushed it down. She _loved_ her daughter. She did. And if Lillie was here to apologize (she better be) then Lusamine had to be willing to put away her anger for the only family she had left (Mohn was _out_ there, of course he was, but Lillie was _here,_ on Earth.)

“Oh…Lillie, what’s this?” There was only a slight hesitation in her voice.

“Mother, I was so _worried_ about you! You were taken by the Ultra Beast and you threw yourself in front of us, and you sacrificed yourself, and I was so _scared!_ But we got you back! I’m so happy you’re back!”

Oh. So she was _happy_ she’d ruined her mother’s plans. Although, to her credit, she believed she’d been saving her. It was…forgivable.

And so, in a motion unlike what Lillie had come to expect from her mother, Lusamine put a comforting (and genuine, not suffocating) hand on her hair, stroking it ever so lightly, and she couldn’t help but remember a similar time years ago— the last time she’d done something like this. And it proved, it proved that Lusamine _was_ really her mother. She still cared. She did.

“Lillie…I’m glad you’re alright. You’re my daughter. And you’re safe. And that’s all I wish for.”

She looked into Lusamine’s eyes and the sincerity, the happiness, the gratitude—it made the woman pause again. Why was Lillie so _hard_ to deal with genuinely? Lusamine was unequipped to deal with _feelings,_ particularly those of a daughter she hadn’t lived with for years, and it would have been so much easier to dismiss her or smother her with affection until she grew frustrated (but those two reactions represented the two reasons why Lillie hated her mother. And Lusamine, for all that she never showed genuine love to her daughter, _did_ care if she hated her or not.)

Instead, she smiled and met her gaze, and willed her own eyes to fill with sympathy and love. “Lillie, we never get to spend time together anymore! Would you like to spend the day together? Mother and daughter!”

Lusamine had never seen such a rapid and heartfelt nod from anyone (and such emotions on display, she had to say, were unladylike. She’d raised Lillie better.

(But, but, the question stood. Had Lusamine really raised Lillie at all?))

“Mother, I wouldn’t love anything more! What do you want us to do?”

Lusamine tilted her head, regarding Lillie. “Well, the first thing we should do is get you looking prettier, alright dear?”

Lillie stood there, her lips tightening for just a second before she smiled. “Of course, Mother.”

They found themselves in front of Lusamine’s vanity, mother and daughter reflected. She tsked, shaking her head ever so slightly. “This just won’t do. Lillie, what do you see here?”

Was this a trick question?

“Well…I see you, Mother. You are beautiful. I see myself…” she paused for a moment, regarding herself. What was she supposed to say? “And my hair has been messed up from the trip here. We must fix it.”

“Lovely observation, Lillie! I see a beautiful young woman with glowing skin, lovely green eyes,” Lillie smiled here. Was her mother complimenting her? That was _high_ praise, coming from a woman who defined herself as perfection personified. She continued, “and impeccable makeup. And you,” Lillie’s smile dropped. Oh. “We have something great to work with here! Of course, you are my daughter. But you could use some concealer, and highlighter, and of _course_ hairspray, though your good eyes caught that. Let’s get to work, then!”

And Lusamine was all smiles, but Lillie wasn’t anymore. She’d thought this might be…well, _fun_ maybe wasn’t the right word. She had to keep in mind who she was dealing with. But, at least, she hoped she’d be able to bond with her mother over _something_ other than Lusamine’s obsession with herself. Lillie smiled anyway, though, because this was okay. She knew that Lusamine wasn’t the greatest with emotions. But she was trying her best. So Lillie would go along with whatever her mother wanted.

“Alright, Mother!”

Half an hour later (that was a record!) found them looking in the vanity again, a considerably happier smile on Lusamine’s face. “There, Lillie! You look much better! What do you want to do next?”

“Could we…take a walk on the beach in Melemele? It’s one of my favorite places!”

“Of course, darling!”

And so, after some time on a private jet (they didn’t talk much. Lillie tried, but…it was a bit awkward. She wasn’t sure what to talk about.) they were on the shores of Melemele, the sea crashing and receding, sprays of foam catching their feet. Lillie smiled. She felt more at home, here, because while the manor at Aether Paradise used to be her home, going back there had just felt…weird. There were too many memories.)

The sand was wet under Lillie’s feet and she closed her eyes, smelling the salt on the breeze, letting the ocean wind ruffle her hair, and the peacefulness of this place ground her. Maybe, here, Lusamine would be more…human, more familiar, and less professional. They _were_ family, after all. (Lillie didn’t want to admit that one of the reasons they were here would be to trigger the memories of the happy family they once had, her and Gladion and Lusamine playing, when she was young. It wasn’t the same place, but maybe here they could meld the happy experiences of old and new and start again. Lusamine was _trying._ She could see that. And if they could start all over, then maybe it would be alright.)

After a while of walking, Lillie spoke up. “Mother? I really am glad to have you back. I was so worried, and scared, and…I’m sorry it happened to you. I know how terrible it can feel, to be taken by one of those _things.”_

“Lillie…I didn’t want to mention it before, not when Hobbes was there, but…the Nihilego was evil. It clouded my mind— I could not remember who I was, who you were, and I don’t remember everything, but I know I was not the same. I never wanted anything like this to happen— it is what happened to your father, and I was working so hard to get him back, not to get taken myself. It hurt. I didn’t want to be torn away forever.”

Lillie almost paused. Lusamine had never been this (seemingly) honest with her, not in a long time. There was a small voice, in the corner of Lillie’s mind (the same part of her mind that had come forward when she told Lusamine she hated her) telling her not to trust what she said. Lusamine had been so— so _awful,_ when she was possessed by the Nihilego, and she wanted to hurt them, and she hurt her friends, and she hurt Lillie…but…Lillie didn’t know what it was like, to be taken advantage of like that. Not for that long. She couldn’t be judgmental. Not when her mother was the _victim._

“Mother…I’m so sorry that happened to you! It must have been awful. I wish we could have saved you sooner.”

They were silent, then, for a few more minutes, sunshine on their skin. Finally, Lillie worked up the nerve to say what had been on her mind for a while. She’d been wondering about Gladion. Gladion ran away, she knew that. She knew why, too, because he’d told her. And yet Lusamine had told her too, albeit very briefly. Lusamine had told her that Gladion was a traitor.

Was that really true, with what she knew now?

She wasn’t sure who to believe. Gladion _had_ left her. But Lusamine had pretended like he’d never existed. She’d played blameless, when she’d acknowledged his existence for the first time in years.

Was it really so hard to believe she could do it again?

But if Gladion and Lusamine avoided each other like the plague, if they really hated each other, why had they come together to the rescue when she’d been kidnapped by Faba? And, when they’d come to stop Faba the second time, after he’d captured Nebby,Lillie’s brother and mother had been more familiar with each other than just estranged mother and son ten years going.

They’d seen each other in the interim. And, for all that Gladion hated their mother, too, he’d seemed awfully bothered by the fact that Lusamine had thrown herself in front of both of them. Did she really care about Gladion after all? She _must,_ right? She was still his mother.

And when they’d been in Ultra Space, Lusamine had looked extra long at Gladion, and it’d been with the same hate as always, sure, but there’d been something more. Longing? Or was it all in Lillie’s mind?

“Mother…I know you say that Gladion betrayed you. But…do you really hate him? He’s not as bad as— he’s not as bad as I thought he would be. He doesn’t hate our family. If you could just _talk_ , then maybe—“

All pretenses of happiness or even pleasantry were gone. “Lillie, no. I suggest you drop it, _now.”_

“But Mother, what if it’s not what you think it is? What if we could be family again? What if—“

“I _said_ drop it. He _betrayed_ us!”

“But you talked to him when we had to! You talked to him when you worked together to rescue me! If he _helped_ with that, then—!”

“Lillie, he _hurt_ me! I’ll never be the same! He was a _horrible_ son and he is no family of mine! He will _never_ be!”

“But—“

“No!”

Lusamine’s voice was thick and sharp, heavy and shrill. It held all the authority of a powerful woman. And Lillie stopped, immediately regretting what she’d said. How could she do that? Lusamine had just been through a horrible experience and now she was going to press her more? How _awful-?_

She wanted to apologize, but she didn’t want to push her luck. She didn’t think she’d be able to get a word in. Lusamine was panting, her perfect smile gone, and she wouldn’t look at her daughter.

“Lillie, never speak of this again. Do you under _stand_ me?”

She nodded, immediately, but something in her mind changed. A grieving woman betrayed was one thing. But it had been _years._

And she’d _always_ been like this. Lusamine had always been like this with her family. She could try, of course…but…maybe Lillie was too forgiving.

There was a long pause, neither of them moving, before Lusamine opened her mouth. “You _know_ I hate fighting with you Lillie, especially when I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Lillie drew back, something in her eyes. They narrowed. She sighed. “Yes, Mother.”

The rest of the walk was in silence. They didn’t do anything else, Lusamine returning to her study and Lillie staying on the island.

She wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

-.-.-.-.-

There was something up with Lusamine. Ash couldn’t figure out what it was, but he refused to be reticent. Not after what happened.

In the week after they went to Ultra Space, he and his friends had already been extremely busy. They’d all been exhausted after, of course (his classmates hadn’t had to stay up two nights in a row to save the world before), but there was no break. Lusamine (who recovered remarkably fast) had called all of them, explaining that there were more Ultra Beasts? And they were causing chaos— it would explain the weird happenings. They were emerging from their own wormholes and causing chaos all over Alola. She needed a team to go and deal with them and she only trusted the kids who’d _bravely_ gone to rescue her in Ultra Space (there was an odd emphasis on the word, and he couldn’t quite figure out what it meant).

Professor Kukui had immediately stood up, looking ready to protest, before they’d all leapt up and volunteered to be the heroes. Ash was suspicious of Lusamine, of course he was, but this wasn’t just her. This was also the others at Aether Paradise, and even if it was just Lusamine, he would never turn down an opportunity to help others. Kukui had sat back down, looking discontented, but hadn’t said anything else.

That night, though, Ash heard him murmuring in low voices with Burnet. He couldn’t make out everything they were saying, but they sounded concerned. From what he could pick up, it sounded like his teacher was worried for the kids. That _kids_ shouldn’t have to be the heroes (Ash almost laughed at the thought). It made sense, though. In Alola, adults viewed even teenagers as children, to be protected and guided. In Kanto, they gave ten-year-olds a trainer’s license and a Pokemon and kicked them out of the house (Ash didn’t think he would’ve been able to wait any longer to go on a Pokemon journey. It’d been his only goal, to become Pokemon Master, for as long as he could remember. The kids here in Alola were different. None of them really wanted to leave, all content to stay, go to school, and train in their own communities. Even Kiawe, the most motivated to battle train of his classmates, didn’t want to leave his home. He had responsibilities— Mimo, a farm.)

So yes, it made sense that Kukui was worried for his students. It was the same way Ash felt about Max and Bonnie— they were a bit too young to be saving the world, and he hadn’t missed the effects the Kalos Crisis had on the little girl. She was _eight,_ for Arceus’ sake. She didn’t deserve to be roped into something that young (2 years shouldn’t seem like much of a difference, but it was for him. Besides, she wasn’t forced to do it. She shouldn’t’ve had to.)

And since then, it’d been nonstop Ultra Beasts— they were barely even able to get a normal day of learning in, all of them exhausted from being up all night continuously— a new Ultra Beast to deal with almost every day. They’d been really busy, and it’d been really exciting, of course— he got to _be_ a _superhero._ They had the outfits and everything, and a squad, and ride Pokemon, and a _chant._ It was great. He got to live out his childhood fantasies, seeing superhero movies on TV.

But still, it all felt…weird. Manufactured, almost. It wasn’t like the normal demands to save the world— where evil people got ahold of legendary Pokemon, or the legendaries themselves caused mischief. They must have really messed up the balance between the dimensions— wormholes were opening all over the place, Ultra Beasts causing trouble in the peaceful islands of Alola.

Lusamine was really keeping them busy. And Ash was always one to drop everything to save the day— _always_ —but still. It was really bothering him. Was Lusamine somehow…experimenting? Preparing?

For what?

Every time Lusamine called them to send them on another mission, every time they saw her, Ash’s eyes narrowed. He watched her, carefully, trying to figure her out. Something was _off_ about her. Aside from looking ghastly for a day or two after they went to Ultra Space, she’d been more withdrawn than he was used to seeing her. More distracted. She was focused on something else, her mind working in the background whenever she spoke. She was smart, he knew. She was a researcher.

What was she trying to figure out?

More than that, her eyes lingered on him, and though he’d grown used to it before, this was a little different. She looked more desperate than before, more confused. In the split second they made eye contact, she’d be searching him.

What was the mystery?

In one of their rare moments where they _weren’t_ trying to save the world, he approached Lillie. She had to know something, right? She’d talked about going to Aether Paradise to see her mother only briefly, but when she came back she wasn’t quite the same. She was distraught, and though most of the time she appeared fine and focused on their missions, he couldn’t help but notice the longing glances she gave her mother.

She looked the same—as though she was trying to figure something out.

And that was nothing to say of the way she looked at Gladion— like she so desperately wanted to talk to him, and he to her, but before she did, she would back away, hesitant. Withdrawn, like she used to be with Pokemon. It was like she couldn’t figure him out, but she’d seemed fine with him when they were in Ultra Space. Something happened in between then and now.

“Hey, Lillie! How are you?”

She looked up from the book she was currently engrossed in. “Oh, hi, Ash! I’m doing well, you?”

He smiled. “Good— hey, I was wondering. I know we’re all exhausted from everything that’s been happening and we’re really busy, but— have you noticed anything _weird_ about your mom, lately?”

That grabbed her attention. She straightened up, closing her book, and made eye contact with him. “Why?”

She was defensive. She was never defensive, so that, more than anything, clued Ash that something more was going on. “I just— I was wondering if she was really okay, after everything that happened to her. She’s seemed more distracted than usual, lately.”

Her eyes narrowed at him, for just a second, her shoulders drawing up to her neck, before she sighed and looked down. “Yes, she’s— different, you could say. She’s been more dedicated to her research than I’ve noticed in a long time.”

She still seemed a little guarded, so he didn’t want to push too much. “Do you have any idea why?”

“I…don’t think so. But I haven’t seen her this focused on her research since my father disappeared a long time ago. I think that maybe she feels like she’s failed to get him back. You saw how dedicated she is, when she…tried to get you to use your…yeah. She’s angry about that.”

Lillie’d formed the theory. Lusamine, when she called, acted like a doting mother, and Lillie would have loved it— she did, but she couldn’t appreciate it like she might have even a few days ago. The argument they’d had, on the beach, changed something. She couldn’t set it aside, not anymore. She wanted to believe that Lusamine did care, that she’d just been upset, and Lillie had provoked her, but she couldn’t quite ignore what had happened.

Still, though, she wasn’t sure whether to talk to Gladion anymore. She wanted to, _oh,_ how she wanted to, but her mother would be angry about her fraternizing with a _traitor_ (Lillie didn’t believe such a thing, but Lusamine did, and Lillie didn’t want to betray her mother, too. Then, Lusamine would be left with nothing, and Lillie was scared of what such a woman may become.)

Ash looked off to the side. “Does she need…help? Or would this be better to ignore?”

Lillie waited until Ash was looking back at her. “She needs to work through this on her own. Although I believe she would benefit from help, she won’t accept it. But…”

Ash smiled wryly. “But we need to keep an eye out, right? After what happened last time?”

Her eyes narrowed again, something in them hurt, but another part accepting. She knew he was right. She didn’t want to admit it though, not really. “…Right.”

It wouldn’t have to come to that, would it? Lusamine wasn’t _that_ volatile. She could work through it on her own, right?

She hoped that, whatever her mother was trying to figure out so desperately, that it wouldn’t backfire. Much of her research had so far.

She hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

-.-.-.-.-

In the beginning, Ash loved to brag about his adventures, prattling on and on about how he’d ridden on Lugia’s back, fought Entei, and seen Mew off in the distance after a big sweeping storm (he seemed odd, when he recalled that one). Professor Oak didn’t believe him, not at first, because his adventures seemed so unlikely. But then he was there in Shamouti. He was there when Delia was kidnapped and Ash saved her. Every crisis that happened around the world, Ash was somehow there, and soon enough Professor Oak came to expect it, and more, he listened excitedly, trying to get as many details as he could from a firsthand account.

One time, Ash and his friends called Professor Oak, about seeing a Suicune in Johto. At this, he perked up. Was it finally time? He’d lost track of how many years it had been, and he hadn’t known for sure, but was this it?

Soon enough, they called him again, about how they’d seen Celebi. Ash expressed his regrets, already missing his friend, and something broke in Professor Oak’s heart. Ash was his _friend,_ from long ago. “Don’t worry, Ash, I’m sure that you and Sammy will be friends forever.”

It was only after they’d ended the call that he realized he’d slipped up and said the name. They’d never mentioned it to him (but maybe, he hoped that this would clue Ash in.) He looked fondly over the sketch he had of Celebi and Pikachu, all those years ago.

Ash came back from Johto and beelined to Professor Oak’s. He looked determined and confused, and at his insistence, the Professor sat down with the trainer. “Hello, my boy, what did you want to talk about?”

“Professor Oak, your name is Samuel, right?”

The old man chuckled, a little offset by the boy calling him by his first name. “Yes, Ash, my name is Samuel Oak.”

“Do you remember when we told you about Celebi and time travel?”

This _must_ be it, right? Ash must know?

“Yes, I do. Why do you ask?”

“Professor Oak, you mentioned the friend we made— Sammy— without us telling you. Were you— was that _you?_ You’re Samuel, and you knew about it, and—“

Professor Oak smiled, slowly, trying not to laugh at the boy in front of him, who looked so serious. “Oh, Ash, where did you ever get that idea? Are you sure you didn’t hit your head too hard in one of your crazy adventures?”

Ash, who opened his mouth to say something, immediately shut it, looking perplexed and indignant, inhaling to defend himself. “Wait, was I wrong? I—“

He couldn’t hold it in any longer, though, and Professor Oak laughed, a great big one, at the baffled boy. “I’m only joking, my boy, yes, it was me! I’m Sammy! I still remember you!”

Ash’s expression shifted rapidly from miffed to a smile. “You really still remember me?”

“Of course, Ash, look at this!” He pulled out his yellowed sketchbook, the papers worn from 50 years of travel and study. He flipped to the drawing he’d done so long ago, faded and smudged in many parts, but still clear.

Ash’s eyes grew to the size of saucers. “That’s Pikachu and Celebi! You still— you still _have_ that?”

The old man’s eyes crinkled, now, with fondness. “Of course. It meant a lot to me, Ash. Remember, friendships can last through time.”

With that, Pikachu hopped onto the Professor’s lap, rubbing his head against his torso. They all laughed, content with an old friendship, and how it had transformed (Oak would be pressed to admit, but it hadn’t taken long for him to start to view the boy as a grandson— one who kept in more regular contact than Gary, at least).

At some point, Ash stopped talking so easily. Professor Oak had seen it coming for a while— especially after Misty left, Ash became slightly more withdrawn with each time he told Professor Oak, until the scientist devised ways to get the stories out of the boy. First off, it had to be _right_ after, when he was still processing everything, because any longer and he’d clam up, insisting that it was nothing special, that the only important thing he did in his life was chase after a league win and his dream.

Ash went through Rota at one point, and Professor Oak knew there was going to be a story there. After all, the boy and his friends would participate in the legendary festival. He would be a fool to assume that this _wasn’t_ going to lead to some crazy adventure. And, just as expected, after the fact Ash called him. He looked like death warmed over, sullen and sad, even under the smiling mask he’d pasted on. And even just exchanging their niceties, Professor Oak could see that Ash was— Ash was _grieving._

For what?

“Ash, my boy, what happened?”

He looked vulnerable, for just a moment, surprised, before he sighed. “Professor Oak— there were some weird things that happened, and—“

Ash told the Professor about winning the festival and being crowned the Guardian of Aura, and a Lucario coming out of a staff— _Sir Aaron’s_ Lucario. Everyone in Kanto had heard the bedtime story, of the brave Sir Aaron who sacrificed himself to save his kingdom. His Lucario was thought to be long dead, considering the legend took place over a thousand years ago. But, of course, as it always was with Ash, apparently it _wasn’t_ dead, and it attacked him. And he found out that he possessed the capability for aura, which shocked the Professor. Everyone knew that Aura Guardians had been hunted to extinction. There were only a few remaining Aura Adepts around the world.

Of _course,_ Ash was one of them. Why would he expect any different? Apparently, Pikachu was taken by Mew ( _Mew!)_ and they went to the Tree of Beginning. It— it _killed_ all the humans (Oak knew he was going to have to be calling the parents of Ash’s younger companions— parents didn’t always take kindly to their children being _killed_ and brought back to life). Mew saved everyone but got sick doing it. Ash and Lucario had to work together to give aura back to Mew (Ash was brief on this part, but although Oak’s knowledge of wave energy was limited, he knew that it had to be tougher than Ash was letting on). Lucario, at the last moment, _shoved Ash aside_ (and here, his voice choked up. The Professor tactfully kept from mentioning it) and then he died, saving Mew’s and Ash’s life.

Ash didn’t say it. He didn’t say it, but it wasn’t hard to deduce that the boy was dealing with a hefty dose of survivor’s guilt. “Ash, you realize it’s not your fault, right?”

He looked up, a little surprised. Was he really that see-through?

With a chuckle and a wry smile, he said “I know, Professor.”

Anyone could tell that Ash didn’t believe it himself, but when Oak pressed, he got defensive, and the man got the hint that he should drop it. He trusted Brock and the other companions to help Ash.

“Thank you for telling me, my boy. Thank you for trusting me.”

He smiled. “Yeah, Professor. Just remember, could you not—?”

“Yes, I remember, you don’t want your mother to know. Ash, while I may not approve of you keeping secrets from her, I’ll respect your wishes.”

“Thanks, Professor.”

The first time he’d considered telling Delia anyway, but quickly realized that Ash wouldn’t trust him again if he did that. And if Ash didn’t tell Professor Oak, who would he tell? (He didn’t like that he knew the answer right away. No one.)

At some point, maybe around Unova, the Professor noticed something different. Brock had called him, at some point, and Tracy, telling them to keep an eye out for the young trainer. Brock had seen Ash becoming more distant, and he’d worried, and he didn’t know how his departure would affect Ash. So they had. They’d kept an eye out, and it was hard, because he barely spoke a word of the amazing events he was always a central part of. He’d say, in passing, the name of a legendary, or his friends would join Ash on the call and mention it. Ash only looked uncomfortable.

Around Kalos, he’d barely called. Professor Oak was not blind. He’d seen it coming with the boy. He’d tuned into Kalos news channels and been on the lookout for anything concerning him. On Ash's _first day,_ he saw a terrifying video of the only trainer from Pallet still going _jump off a tower_ after his Pikachu. There was no hesitation at all, and _that_ was what worried the Professor. Because, although he was always deeply concerned by the boy’s reckless actions, he turned out to be okay, in the end, somehow. But there was no hesitation, and that hinted at what else Ash may do to save his Pokemon, and it hinted at a time when the boy’s ridiculous luck may one day run out.

He’d kept a close eye on Kalos news, but then he didn’t need to, because it was broadcast all over the world. Everyone, across the globe, sat in stunned silence as they watched the horrific events of the Kalos Crisis (in some ways, this event wasn’t as horrifying on the larger scale of what Ash had dealt with— there’d been similar threats in the past, but none so widely televised and broadcast). Those in other regions had watched with a removed sort of sympathy— it was in a different part of the world, after all, and they still had their lives to return to— but those who _knew_ people in Kalos, for them, it struck them still. Professor Oak knew Ash was there. It was, after all, right after the Lumiose Conference. For a terrorist attack, it was an opportune time to strike.

Professor Oak knew, without even asking, that Ash was at the center of the Kalos Crisis. He just knew. And Ash wouldn’t call him, wouldn’t tell him anything, so Professor Oak called in a favor and chatted with the regional professor, Sycamore.

And the news he heard from him— well, even he hadn’t expected the magnitude at which Ash was involved. And, in addition, the _research_ about the new bond—!

Ash refused to talk to Oak about it, when he got home, though. He tried to get it out of the boy, but he’d made excuses, and soon enough he was off to Alola.

Professor Oak hoped he was okay (and he was glad, then, that his cousin worked at the school. At least he had one person who could let him know that the boy was okay!)

Ash hadn’t called him since Kalos. He didn’t tell anyone from home much, anymore, and that was worrying. He hoped that Ash had told someone, or at least had _someone_ to rely on in Alola. It wasn’t healthy, to keep everything in as much as he was.

Ash was living with the Alolan professor, Kukui, and from what Samson told him, the boy seemed happy. That gave him some solace.

He hoped Ash would trust him again, someday.

Because one day, he was going to get in too deep, and his luck was going to run out.

And he didn’t want the boy coming home to Delia in a coffin.

-.-.-.-

His hands were shaking. He didn’t really want to do it. But Pikachu was pressing him, and he supposed he owed it to her, right? She’d trusted him, and he should trust her. Besides, he’d told her brother, so shouldn’t he give her the same courtesy?

She surely had questions.

Today, she wasn’t going to go home with Hobbes, so it was the perfect time. “Lillie, do you wanna walk together?”

She looked up at him from where she was sitting. “Sure thing, Ash! Something you want to talk about?”

It was friendly, sure, but there was an intensity beneath his eyes, and she caught it. This was important. “Yeah, something like that.”

She gathered her bag and was ready to go. Ash put his own on, Pikachu doing a perfect dance from shoulder to shoulder so that he could stay on Ash while he put on his own backpack. “Let’s go!”

The wood creaked under their shoes as they walked along the boardwalk. It was silent for a little while until they found themselves approaching the beach. Ash chuckled at himself. He always seemed to have these conversations along the beach, didn’t he?

“So, what was it you wanted to talk about, Ash?”

He took a deep breath. “So…um…you remember the whole thing about…aura, right? Lusamine talked about it, and I know you saw what happened with me and Pikachu in Ultra Space, and…”

She looked at him. “I do remember. If you’re uncomfortable talking about it, though, I understand.”

“No, Lillie, I think…you deserve to know. I’ve always been afraid of telling people about it, because something happened a long time ago but…I trust you. I’m sure you have questions. You can ask me anything you want.”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. Anything? “I’ve heard the legends about aura users. They’re extremely rare, right?”

Involuntary chills went down his back at the word choice. “…Yes, they are. I found it out, actually, from a Lucario, if you’re wondering about that. Sir Aaron’s Lucario.”

“Sir Aaron?!”

He smiled, chuckling despite himself. “Yeah, um, I sort of brought him back to life? He kinda tried to attack me.”

She stopped, her eyebrows furrowed. “You brought him back to life? And he attacked you?”

Smiling more at her shock, he allowed himself a moment of appreciation before once more sobering, the thought of the rest of his tale darkening his mood. “Yes, he did. And…a lot of stuff happened. Anyways, what else?”

“So if you can use it…are you descended from an aura user? How else would you have it?”

He shrugged flippantly. “No idea. Don’t really wanna think about it at this point— I’ve got enough mystery already.”

“How did my mother know about it?”

It was his turn to stop in his tracks, looking down. When Lillie stopped, too, he looked into her eyes. “I…don’t know. I was trying to hide it, from _her_ especially,” and Lillie’s eyes narrowed at the implications of the emphasis on her mother, “but she knew about it, and I don’t know how. That’s what’s scary about this whole thing—no one’s supposed to know unless I tell them. I didn’t tell her. She knew, and she revealed it to everyone else in the room, and that’s a really slippery slope, because—!”

He’d been yelling. His eyes widened at the realization. He took a deep breath. Try again. “—Because… _scientists_ really shouldn’t find out about it.” He turned away, his hand clutching his opposite elbow. Lillie knew not to press.

“Well…have you and Pikachu trained a lot? Because in Ultra Space, when you guys did that Z move— it was _so cool!”_

He smiled at her. “Thanks! Yeah, we have. We can do some really cool stuff! And, maybe, someday we could show you.”

A pause. “Not yet, though. Not when everything is still so…precarious. But. Eventually. I trust you.”

He bumped his shoulder against hers gently, a friendly gesture he tended to use when he wasn’t sure what to say. She bumped back, and then, everything was okay. She had questions, sure, because there was a lot he wasn’t saying. But, sometimes, she didn’t need to know.

And that was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! I'm excited, we're getting closer to the end! Still got quite a few more chapters to go (at least three, I think, maybe more?) but we're getting there! I can't believe that, when I started this, I thought it was going to be 25,000 words (way off on that one!)


	8. Mother Knows Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My friends care about me!”
> 
> “Oh, do they? Why would they, come on now, really? You don’t know how to be a friend! Trust me, dear, I can see how they act. They’re only nice to you out of pity!”
> 
> Lillie stood, stock still, staring at Lusamine. When had she gotten so…villainous? So nasty? She’d never insulted Lillie this outright, it was always concealed behind backhanded compliments (because that’s what she realized they were, now. They were never meant to be genuine. Her mother had always been degrading her. For what? To control her?) and a syrupy-sweet voice.
> 
> “Don’t be dumb, Lillie. It’s time to end this once and for all. Don’t talk to Gladion again. Leave your fake friends. Come, we could be together again! Come to live with me, your mother! Trust—“
> 
> “No!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! New chapter! Let me know what you think!

Green eyes reflected in the mirror. She stared deep into them, confronting what she’d become. She looked beautiful, perfect. Not a hair out of place, skin flawless from layers upon layers of makeup. Her white dress had neither stain nor wrinkle. On the surface, she appeared a collected woman.  


But she was panting heavily and her eyes wouldn’t leave their reflection. Her thoughts ran wild and the tiniest bit of sweat beaded on her brow. Lusamine was supposed to be perfect. Lusamine was supposed to be unstoppable. Lusamine was supposed to be powerful, composed. She was none of those right now.

Her plan, perfectly set out, had been disrupted. She’d been _almost_ there— she’d _had_ the Nihilego, she’d been alone in Ultra Space, and everything had been _perfect._ Almost. She would’ve found Mohn. She would’ve lived there, in a beautiful world with her beautiful Ultra Beasts.

But then everything went wrong. She’d expected the children to find a way to come after her, but they shouldn’t have been able to stop her. If they’d just come a _little later,_ she might have found Mohn.  


But she hadn’t. She’d been there and gotten nothing in return. They believed she was a victim. That was good. She could continue her work, but it wasn’t _enough._ She’d _failed,_ in this, and it had been at the hands of her children and the foreign boy.

Lillie said she hated her mother.  


Lusamine stared deep into her reflection, shaking, before sweeping her arm out and knocking everything off the counter suddenly and with a loud crash. Glass shattered as it met the floor, cosmetics oozing out of the broken bottles. The white tile was marred with black and tan and red, bleeding into each other in a big mess. She punched the now-empty countertops and let out a barely restrained scream of frustration and anger. She looked at her reflection again and only just stopped herself from punching the mirror, not wishing to shatter that as well.

Grabbing her hair, she backed up into the wall and her shoulders rose and fell heavily as she struggled to keep from doing any more damage.

She was crying.

Lusamine never cried. She could be angry, she could scream and hurt, she could intimidate, striking fear with a single word into those who dared oppose her authority, and she could smile sweetly and charm all she cared. But she did not cry. Not since…

No. Perfection didn’t cry.

She let out another scream of frustration and clenched her eyes tightly. After a moment, she forced it down and took a deep breath. Another. A final one, before she straightened, looked in the mirror, and smiled. Perfection again.

She strode out of the room, grace personified and elegance manifested. She did not go to Aether Paradise. No, instead she found herself in her study, looking over the books already spread across the table in disarray. If one examined closer, there were annotations and notes scribbled across the yellowed pages of ancient manuscripts, almost unintelligible and desperate. She sat. She stared, reading over her notes, over and over, turning and flipping back pages. She was a woman on the hunt, searching for the information she needed.

Ancient manuscripts were challenging to understand, especially when written in outdated forms of the modern language, and reading them took longer than she cared to admit. Still, though, she needed to learn, and she needed to study, so she wrote notes where she could to understand. Everything was _right there._ Lusamine could see all the information needed to solve her mystery right in front of her, and all signs seemed to be pointing to an answer she couldn’t quite reach. There was something missing, an intersection of theories and experiments not quite connecting, and it frustrated her to no end. It just didn’t make sense.  


The answer seemed as though it was already in her brain, _there_ but not quite reachable. If she could just get one more piece of information…

She couldn’t focus. Her mind kept returning to her daughter, the memory of her determined, sincere face and the resolve in her voice as she declared that she hated her mother. Lusamine knew her daughter didn’t trust her fully, not as she once did. It was _annoying,_ because Lusamine needed control over her!

  
Lillie was her _daughter,_ why didn’t she trust her? Why didn’t she love her? Why did she hate her?

  
Why was Lillie with Gladion again?

Her fists clenched so hard her arms began to shake. Gladion had _betrayed_ her. They’d been happy, a perfect family. Then Mohn was taken. Mohn was taken, and she’d screamed and cried (that was the last time she cried, and now it was happening again?). And she’d dedicated all of herself to finding him, to bringing him back, studying Ultra Beast and Ultra Space and the Symbionts, how to open a wormhole, how to find him. She’d grown interested in them, poring over reports and books and every scrap of possible information and dedicating hours and hours, days, weeks, months, and _years_ into them. Their biology, their promises, another world— a world of _perfection—_ and though she tried to find Mohn, she grew fascinated with the beasts themselves.  


But she’d just wanted the perfect family back again. That’s all she wanted, to unite them, to protect them. She didn’t grieve her husband. She didn’t go to his funeral. He wasn’t _dead._ She knew he wasn’t dead, he had disappeared. He’d been taken. She could _find_ him, alive out there somewhere.

Somewhere along the way, she’d changed. She wasn’t the Lusamine she used to be. But that was fine. She would find Mohn. They would be a happy family once again.

She wasn’t sure when her children started getting annoying, but they did. Gladion was too loud, too destructive. Lillie was too clingy and she wasn’t as beautiful as Lusamine expected her to be. She, too, played hard, which wasn’t suitable for a little lady.  


Lusamine thought that with her position of power as the President of Aether Paradise she could gain some more leverage to find Mohn. Everyone in her organization studied Ultra Beasts as well, and then Faba _opened a wormhole._ He’d _done_ it. She could _reach_ Ultra Space, she could _find Mohn,_ but somehow Lillie and Gladion were there (when were children _ever_ allowed down here?!) And the UB-01 Symbiont took Lillie (she almost lost another to the Ultra Beasts that day) and the only thing that saved her was the Silvally.

She wasn’t the same after that. Apparently, Wicke said (although she hadn’t listened much, preferring to research) that an experience such as that could traumatize children. Lillie couldn’t touch Pokemon. She was afraid, after that, and it was a _hassle._ Because Lusamine cared about her daughter, of _course_ she did, but it didn’t matter if they had to struggle through right now, because soon enough they would have Mohn back and become the perfect family. It would all be fine. It would all be _perfect_ very soon, because she had a breakthrough! She was _so close!_

Her son grew angrier than she ever remembered him being. He disrespected her, minimizing her sacrifices and _accusing_ her, blaming her! It wasn’t _her_ fault Lillie was almost taken by the UB-01 Symbiont! It wasn’t _her_ fault Mohn was taken! Did Gladion not see all the sacrifices she _constantly made_ for him and Lillie? For their _family?_ She was trying to find his father, her dear, dear Mohn!

  
He called her obsessed with Ultra Beasts. She was _not_ obsessed. She was dedicated. She was determined, she would find the answers. She would unite everyone again, and then everything would be as it used to be. He told her he didn’t know who she was anymore. He told her she wasn’t his mother. He told her she was selfish, that she was _tearing their family apart._ He told her she could never achieve a perfect family because it had never existed. He told her it was _her fault!_

She _told_ him about all the sacrifices she constantly made, how selfish and blind he was being to her suffering. He said he didn’t care about her sacrifices. He didn’t care about getting Mohn back, all he wanted was his mother _now_ (did he _dare!?)._ He said she didn’t love them anymore, which _wasn’t true!_ She loved her children! Families were supposed to love each other. It just _was._

She didn’t mean it. She told him that if he didn’t love her, she didn’t love him. She told him that if he were to claim she wasn’t his mother, then he was _not_ her son.

He could leave if he well pleased.

She didn’t mean it.  


He did, apparently, because he _left_ anyway, and if that was the case, then _fine._ He was never her true family in the first place. If he didn’t care about achieving their happiness once again, then he was not a son to her. It was okay. She had Lillie. She would get Mohn back, and then they would be a _perfect family,_ without the weak link. Without the traitor.  


Because Gladion had betrayed her.

And she was not a woman to be trifled with.  


Lillie asked about her brother (ugh) and it annoyed Lusamine to no end. Did her daughter not understand? Did she not understand that Gladion had betrayed them, their family, and that he would never be welcome back? He had _hurt_ them and family didn’t hurt each other.

Lillie shut up about him for years.

But then her daughter _went behind her back and befriended him again._ She befriended a traitor. And for that, she was on thin ice. Maybe Lusamine, if she were in better circumstances, would have made it known that she was not to be messed with. She was the mother. She was the President of Aether Paradise. She had the authority and she was not to be disrespected.  


She was not in those circumstances, because Lillie was the only one she had left. She _needed_ Mohn back, she was _close_ again, and she couldn’t afford to lose control over her daughter.

But Lillie said she _hated her mother!_  


Lillie had come to her, apologizing and crying. They’d spent the day together. And Lusamine _tried,_ she _did,_ because she wasn’t heartless. She _cared_ about Lillie— she was still her daughter! And for all that she was angered by Lillie, she was all the more hurt. She _wanted_ to be a mother her daughter was proud of. A mother her daughter chose to love.

So she tried. She tried to compliment Lillie, to go along with her, to spend time with her, but _all she did was use their time to interrogate her mother about Gladion!_ All she did was mention a traitor, and Lusamine was angered anew. How _dare_ she? Didn’t she understand?  


She wanted to apologize after she yelled (even though she hadn’t really done anything wrong. Lillie had provoked her.) because the girl looked so conflicted and hurt. But she couldn’t. Because that would _teach Lillie_ that it was okay to disrespect her mother. And it was _not._  


Lusamine shook her head, trying to clear her mind of intrusive thoughts. _Lillie_ did not matter right now, not when she had a mystery to solve and goals to avenge. Ultra Beasts had started coming out of wormholes shortly after she returned from Ultra Space, and she knew why. They’d disrupted the fabric of space too much, the delicate balance between the dimensions tipped when they’d used energy to rip a wormhole. And the crossing of humans and Pokemon into Ultra Space—!  


But, seeing what happened gave her ideas. If she couldn’t appreciate the beauty of Ultra Space, then maybe she could bring Ultra Beasts to Alola…

It was crazy. There was no way she’d be able to do it on a grand scale. But if they were already crossing over, then maybe…  


She assembled the Ultra Guardians out of the children that had gone to Ultra Space, instructed them, and gave them the resources needed to handle the beasts safely and return them through the wormholes.

But, she realized. She studied how they passed and what aggravated them to do so. And she accentuated that. There were multiple trials and failures, resulting in nothing or breaches in their security and the safety of Alolan citizens (thankfully, she didn’t always have to act worried when instructing the children— sometimes, she really did need help). Finally, finally, though, she was able to discover how exactly. She could draw a couple at a time to a source and then open a wormhole at a weak point in the barrier between dimensions. If she let them out, they’d wreak havoc and the Ultra Guardians would come to save the day.

She could utilize this. She could.  


She sat back in her chair, a dark smile slowly spreading over her face.

Besides, it was useful, too, because it kept the children busy (especially her daughter and the foreign boy. They were the most likely to suspect her, and they were too preoccupied to even worry about her when they were forced to stay up almost every night saving the citizens of Alola.) It was useful, buying her time to _figure out_ her issue. She couldn’t quite do it. She was _so close._  


She returned to her memories of that fateful day. They were blurry, corrupted, and she couldn’t make out everything (the only clear thing was her daughter’s impassioned speech. That broke through to her more than anything). She wasn’t quite sure how she’d been defeated. There’d been a huge flash of color and energy. She could still feel the electricity in the air, the hairs on her arms rising, charged and ready. She could still feel the restlessness of the UB-01 Symbiont. She could hear the distant yells of a Pokemon, of a young voice.  


She could see the bright colors, red and orange bleeding into yellow and chartreuse, emerald crackling and shifting into a marbled cerulean, violet and indigo circling around back into red, altogether bright and explosive. It had grown, larger and larger and larger, before blasting. She could still feel the gut instinct to go _towards it,_ the Nihilego drawn to the power it felt, wanting to absorb it.  


What _was_ it? What was that powerful? What had caused it?  


What she _did_ remember was after she was separated. Though tired, she’d been aware and guarded. She hadn’t missed the Pokemon— the Rotom, flying around and exclaiming in that grating electronic voice. It was bragging about a new Z move of Ash’s and Pikachu’s. 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt, was it called?

A new, incredibly powerful Z move. A giant flash of light. She’d looked over at Ash, watching him, and she didn’t miss how exhausted he looked. He’d gotten off Solgaleo and faltered, unable to stand on his own. Gladion and Lillie, who’d also been with them right at the end, hadn’t had the same problem. Which meant it wasn’t physical exhaustion solely from chasing her.

It was something more.

But Z moves weren’t supposed to exhaust the trainer as much as he appeared to be.

  
Surely, surely, he’d superpowered the move of his own volition? Surely he’d used his own latent power to add to his Pokemon’s?

How powerful was he?

More importantly, how could it be used?

And _that_ was what she was studying. How could she…?

She’d asked Burnet, a couple days after the event, to confirm her suspicions. She lived with the boy, surely she must know something? She’d asked her more about Ash’s new Z move (under the guise of not remembering anything and wondering how the children were able to separate her from the Ultra Beast). The woman had narrowed her eyes at Lusamine, suspicious. After a moment, though, she’d declined to answer and moved along. Lusamine hoped she’d brushed it off.  


The scientist found ancient manuscripts— from the kingdom of Rota, in Kanto. The royals of Cameran Palace, thankfully, had kept a detailed record of their history of the legends of Aura Guardians. After all, they were home to the famous Sir Aaron. Although lesser known outside of Kanto, it was still common knowledge for many.

And it wasn’t just a bedtime story.

The question was, how was she to harness it? Surely there was something that could do so?  


The manuscripts were almost unintelligible, but she could make out that there were gemstones that acted as a conduit for those who used aura. Most namely, they’d been used by the hero of Rota, stones embedded in his gloves, which drew it out of him. And while those seemed mighty interesting, it wasn’t what she needed. She needed something that could harness the energy and convert it, or hold it, or…

_Oh._

An integral piece of the puzzle fit into place. She hadn’t been sure how to draw the Ultra Beasts out, because while 2 or 3 was easy now, hundreds…

There was no way.

But she remembered the draw within the Nihilego towards the energy of the Z move. So to know that it was powered by aura?  


Nihilego were _drawn_ to it. And if she could find a way not only to harness the aura but to get it from the boy in the first place (not that he would willingly give it, that much had been made clear), then she could use it as bait.

If she could use those stones to hold the energy…?

Or perhaps some sort of device?

Her memories prodded at her mind, and a distant one resurfaced. Watching the horrific events on the news of the siege on Kalos. That terrorist group, what were they?

Oh. Team Flare.

She’d been morbidly interested (how did they do it? How did they command a legendary to destroy a city?) and had studied the events. Much of it had been classified, but people talked. A government couldn’t hope to keep an event of that caliber secret, and the motivations and methods of the group, though originally protected to prevent copycats, had been leaked. They’d used some sort of corrupted energy to control Zygarde.

What had they used? Because if they had devices to harness and hold energy, certainly it wouldn’t be that hard to develop? They were _Aether Paradise._ Of course it wouldn’t be a challenge.  


She just needed to figure out where to start.  


A smile slowly grew on her lips.  


-.-.-.-

  
It was almost too easy. The events lined up perfectly. The Ultra Beasts were already provoked, stirring. She’d noticed it not only on her monitors, but she could even see it in the sky. It was rippling. Almost imperceptible to the human eye, she noticed in the way that the stars moved, constellations resembling blinking airplanes in the night sky.  


And she’d been working. She wasn’t there yet— she didn’t have what she needed— but 6 or 7? At this point, it was a piece of cake. And if something went wrong, well…

A small sacrifice was worth it for what she would be able to accomplish!  


(There was a small voice in her mind, barely a whisper, worrying. What if this hurt someone? She shut it down, casting it aside. If she got worried about a couple extra ones, she’d never be brave enough to unleash the number she wanted to.

Besides, small casualties didn’t matter in the long run. If she wanted to bring Ultra Space to Alola, there’d have to be some sacrifices.)  


Faba at her side, together they strode the halls of Aether late at night, pressing buttons and commanding energy releasers. Soon enough, it was finished, and then she was in her office again, worriedly calling the Ultra Guardians. (She really sold the desperation, she had to commend herself. Although, she supposed, while she wasn’t _desperate,_ she certainly was impatient.) Looking near tears, she pleaded, “Everyone, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened! They just keep coming! There are so many this time, and I’m scared for the safety of Alola! We need your help!”  


“UltRoger, Lusamine!”

She smiled. “I’ll be coming to help you as well, you’ll need all the help you can get.”  


So the Aether President and her right hand, together, gathered their Pokemon. They’d be helping, sure, but as performatively as possible. Soon enough, they found themselves on Melemele, exhausted but determined teenagers at the ready. (Lusamine noticed immediately, with no small measure of disgust, that Gladion was there, too.)

“Okay, everyone! I have a location on four of them, but there have been seven reported sightings of Ultra Beasts! I have your beast balls, but we need to split up!”

The children looked unsure at splitting up for a moment before they hardened their resolves and agreed on the logistics. They would break up into groups and dispatch to the four located ones, before reconvening to face the others.

Lusamine saw Lillie planning on going with Gladion. She turned towards the traitor, opening her mouth, before a cursory glance at her mother immediately stopped her in her tracks, asking Ash instead. Lusamine’s fists clenched, unsure whether to feel pleased or frustrated. At least Lillie finally knew that she wasn’t to fraternize with their former family (there was something, deep, _deep_ inside, that had been awakened for the first time in a long time when she’d been with the Nihilego. Emotions she hadn’t felt for _years._ One of those was…regret? She entertained the thought for only a second, staring at the blonde teenager, before she scowled and hardened. _No._ She would not _dare_ even think about regretting her decisions, because then—

Her foundation would crumble, walls crackling and splitting, landsliding, until there was nothing left.

Until she wasn’t _Lusamine_ anymore at all.

No. She would sit, proud, on hate, rather than entertain the thought of forgiveness for one who _clearly_ didn’t deserve it.

(If she did, if she _did!_

No.))

She gave the groups (and Gladion, by himself) the locations of the Ultra Beasts and as much information as she could on them, and then they were off. She didn’t move, not yet, because she couldn’t risk her resolve wavering. Not now. Not when she was _so close—!_  


(to what, she wasn’t quite sure anymore. It didn’t matter.  


(But how would this possibly achieve a happy family? How would this bring back Mohn?)

Shut _up!)_

She squeezed her eyes closed and slammed her fist down in the air. _No._ She _couldn’t risk her resolve wavering._ It would not. It could not. Not now. Not anymore.

And if she had to sacrifice any remaining trace of the woman she once was, so be it.  


A little sacrifice was worth it. It was worth it.  


It had to be.  


Less than an hour later found the children exhausted but the four Ultra Beasts captured and released, and three more located. It’d been tougher than usual, apparently, because some of the children only had a couple Pokemon left. It was time for her and Faba to step in.

Now, they worked as a group, traveling and battling together. Midnight had come and gone. The moon had sunk below the horizon. It was almost pitch black.

Two more Ultra Beasts caught and released, and while there was victory on the Ultra Guardian’s faces, there was also fear, because they now stood facing the last one. It was formidable, larger than the rest, with red and purple and blue and green bleeding into each other, large spines protruding out of its back and face. It looked angry. It was perfect.  


They all fought, at the same time, trying to incapacitate the thing. Lusamine was surprised— even she hadn’t estimated _how_ strong this one would be. No matter. It would work even better.  


Yellow flashed and crackled, lighting up the night, electricity flashing like lightning, followed by orange and red, heat felt across the faces of everyone present, fire twisting in a tornado, before the purple of a poison attack flashed, and water splashed violently. Pokemon after Pokemon fell, exhausted and defeated. The children had to dodge stray attacks themselves (even Lusamine had to have some pity for them. They looked dead on their feet.).  


Most of the Pokemon were down. The tenacious Pikachu held on, somehow, firing attack after attack. Z moves had been used. She hadn’t had a chance to see the infamous 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt (she suspected she wouldn’t be given the chance, not if he was trying to hide his aura. Oh well. That wouldn’t last.)

The children were looking increasingly panicked, because the Ultra Beast was going to hold out for a while yet. It was time, Lusamine decided, and she stepped forward, looking desperate. She locked her eyes with the boy. “Ash! I’m _so_ sorry! I don’t—! I didn’t want it to come to this, I _really_ didn’t, but I don’t know what to do! We’re all down to our last Pokemon, some of you don’t have any left! And this thing is going to cause so much destruction! I’m so sorry, but _please,_ we need your help! You know!”

And time, for Ash, froze in that moment, his eyes locked with Lusamine. He’d vowed never to trust her. He didn’t. But she was _so genuine._ And he didn’t see how she could be lying here— they were all clearly in danger— and so was she, so how or why would she orchestrate something to endanger herself? Besides, it would be stupid for her to be evil in front of everyone, right? They all believed she was still the victim.

He looked around at the faces of his friends. Most of them looked confused, eyes darting between the woman and boy perplexedly. But Gladion knew, recognition and hesitance on his face. Lillie knew. Kukui knew. And above all, _Lusamine knew._ He hated that, but—!

What was he going to do, _not_ help?  


He looked at Rotom, on the ground, for once. Something about this place had been disrupting its signal, and it had just shut down. It’d been odd, but…  


As soon as they’d gotten to this place, too, Riolu had pressed into Ash’s head. He’d been on alert. _There’s something weird here, Ash. You can feel it, right? It’s tugging on your aura._  


Of course Ash knew. It felt, vaguely, like Ultra Space, like the Nihilego drawn to his life energy. The Ultra Energy inside of him, too, was bubbling up.

He just didn’t know what it was. It was faint, and the feeling, like a dream, faded the more he tried to focus on it. He only noticed it again when he was distracted. He had more important things to deal with, though, so he brushed it off. It was either something wrong with the Ultra Beast (out of anything weird, that was the most likely) or it was just his exhaustion.

He didn’t see another solution. He _had_ to do it, right? He had to listen to Lusamine.

He’d paused too long, apparently, because the mutters between his friends started to rise in volume. Gladion’s stance shifted, as though he was about to protest on Ash’s behalf (wow, that night under the moon must have really rung true). But he had to. He had to, even though he wanted anything but.  


He trusted his friends, right? Lusamine already knew, Faba already knew, and although their presence was threatening and unwelcome, he couldn’t do anything about it. They _seemed_ genuine. He locked eyes with Lusamine, again, searching her for any trace of desire, for volatility, but there was nothing. Only concern and desperation, because of the Ultra Beast.

It was oddly silent.

He nodded.

Her mouth twitched, the corners rising, for a second, a second, and it was gone faster than the blink of an eye. He almost thought he was seeing things.   


Almost.  


But he’d agreed, now, and Riolu guided him, their hearts beating in tandem, aura moving together like water flowing gently around a bend. Deep breath, in, and out, control. Control.

He looked down at Pikachu, who met his eyes and nodded with determination. He knew exactly what Ash wanted him to do, without saying anything.

They weren’t going to do the 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt. He didn’t want to make more of a show than he needed to. Just the bare minimum, work to power up Pikachu and use his own power to subdue the beast— but more than that, to connect. To make it understand.  


So Ash finally let it flow, out of his hands, resisting the urge to close his eyes (not here. Not now.) At the sight of the glowing blue energy, there were gasps all around, considerably louder ones from his friends who hadn’t known before. The beast, who’d been momentarily calm, was on the attack again, threatened by the energy. As it prepared an attack, Ash and Pikachu weaved their energies together, attacking the Ultra Beast. A stray beam from the side almost hit him. He put up a shield to block it (his friends gasped, and a cursory glance their way found most of them with a mixture of shock, amazement, and excitement on their faces.)  


Finally, finally, the beast looked exhausted, and Ash could tell it was on its last leg, but it was only getting angrier. He closed his eyes, now, and reached out to it with his (and Riolu’s) aura, trying to appear as non-hostile as possible. At first, its defenses pushed him away, but when he tried again he was able to get through. He immediately sent all the patience and peacefulness he had left in him (and it wasn’t much. He was exhausted and angry) in waves to the Ultra Beast, and, after a moment, it stopped its attack. Ash opened his eyes to find it looking straight at him with a strange expression on its face (although it was hard to read, in the first place). Ash stared back, for almost a full minute, before it tilted its head and sat back. 

  
Ash had tried to communicate all they wanted to do—send it back to its home— and the Ultra Beast agreed. It’d been rampaging in the first place because it was trying to get back, not sure where it was. He smiled, just a little, at that.

Three minutes and thirty seconds later, the beast was back home and they were safe. Ash fell on the ground, panting. Riolu stayed at the back of his mind, insistent. _There was something wrong with that. More of your aura is drained than it should have been. Something else was leeching it._  


Had he been any more rested, Ash might’ve entertained the thought and its implications (there were many, especially because it was _Lusamine_ who’d asked for him to use it in the first place). But he was about ready to keel over, and he didn’t have the mental or emotional capacity to think about anything other than finding the nearest place to lay down and sleep. _Come on, Riolu, I’m tired, that’s all._

The Pokemon didn’t want to drop it, he could tell that, but he ignored any other protests when Professor Kukui offered him a hand to stand up. He took it, but the man’s strength proved to be more than necessary and he overshot, instead running into the Professor’s chest. He stayed there, for a second, and the man hugged him, close and tight. He relished in the warmth, the strength, the _love_ in the hug. Eventually, he looked up. Kukui’s eyes were shadowed and sullen. He looked down at his boarder warmly, but regret tightened his smile. Ash was suddenly reminded of the hushed conversation he wasn’t supposed to hear when Kukui and Burnet were upset about all the pressure put on children.  


How _children_ weren’t supposed to have to save the world. That was the adults’ job.  


He buried his face in the man’s chest again, to avoid laughing. That, in theory, was an appealing prospect. But so unrealistic. (Besides, if he looked any longer, he wouldn’t be laughing. He’d be crying. Because he wished, he _so wished,_ that was the case. He wished that was the case six years ago when he stood on top of a craggy mountain and faced a thousand-year-old prophecy with _his name in it._

He wished that was the case every single time he’d died. He wished that was the case when he faced Hunter J. When he faced Cyrus. _Lysandre._  


But it wasn’t. It wasn’t the case, and it never would be, and he was way too tired to be wishing for things to be different, because they weren’t.

Remember, Ash. Keep moving forward. Don’t look back. Don’t look back, because if he did!

He chuckled, just once, bitterly. It was quiet enough that the Professor didn’t hear.)

Finally, finally, he pulled away, and looked around blearily. His friends were still standing there, shock on their faces, and he could tell they were burning with questions. It was amusing, sure, in some prospect, because he didn’t feel like it was anything special (he _knew_ it was, he _knew_ it was _rare,_ and the events were evidence enough of that. But it didn’t make _him_ special or remarkable or amazing. It was just another burden, or, when it was useful, another tool to use.) It also wasn’t so amusing, though, because he was getting so tired of explaining what it was, and he knew he was going to have to. He _really_ didn’t want to. Maybe he could ask Lillie to? Or Professor Kukui?

Or he could avoid it? (That was stupid, he knew. Avoiding his problems didn’t make them go away, as he’d learned the hard way. They just got worse, more pressing, until he was forced to face them, completely unprepared.

Again, he lamented for the emotional resiliency of a younger him. He didn’t use to be this sensitive, this scared, this bitter. What changed it?

He didn’t want to think about that.)

They were still staring, and he was still loosely holding the Professor, so he let go and approached them. Before they could say anything, he started “Look, guys, not now, okay? I’ll tell you later.”  


They looked disgruntled, Sophocles especially, and Ash was thankful that Rotom wasn’t up and buzzing around. It would be way too tiring to deal with the little thing, even though he loved it.

Everything was a blur and suddenly they were back home. He was on the Professor’s back, and he was bothered (though not as much as he might’ve been if he was even a little more lucid) that he didn’t remember when that happened. Burnet and Kukui helped him down onto the couch and then sat down heavily next to him. He couldn’t bring his eyes to focus on theirs— all he could do was stare ahead at nothing in particular. It was all he could do to keep them from closing completely, and he lost the battle soon enough when Pikachu lazily crawled onto his lap and immediately fell asleep. He didn’t need to be up in the loft for tonight, right? What time was it, anyway?  


Actually, he didn’t want to know. It was late enough, and that was all he needed to know. He knew he shouldn’t put off his problems, but waiting until the morning was alright, he supposed. Tomorrow was going to be a new day. Everything would be okay then.

He really hoped.

-.-.-.-.-

It was supposed to be fine. It was supposed to be normal, routine. Nothing strange was supposed to happen. It was supposed to be okay.

It wasn’t.

  
They’d been—studying, researching, and there’d been a breakthrough. They could _track_ a UB-01 Symbiont, and it was hovering where the fabric between dimensions was particularly thin. They could get valuable new data, and if it came through, they could _see it._ Maybe— if they were lucky— they could even capture one, for research.   


She regretted it. They should have brought more people, they should’ve been more prepared, they shouldn’t have come at all—!

It should’ve been her. It should’ve been her. It wasn’t.

The scene was burned onto her mind, and it vividly played every time she closed her eyes, over and over and over in a vicious loop. It didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop it. She saw the atmosphere ripple and rip apart in a cacophony of colors and distorted air particles and a gelatinous Symbiont push itself through. It came out, and something had come over her— joy, excitement, whatever it was, it put her in a trancelike state of delight. _This was their breakthrough._ She’d had the contraption in her hand.  


Then everything went wrong. Faster than either of them could comprehend, it had swooped down like a Spearow preying on a Caterpie and engulfed him in its tentacles. Her husband, the love of her life— she would never forget the fear, the _desperation_ on his face as he looked to her for help. (And, she’d pushed it deep, deep down until she barely remembered it— the same exact look reflected on Lillie’s face when she was snatched up by the same beast. Lillie had never looked more like her father than at that moment). It was just a second but it felt like an eternity, but then the next eternity came when he was _gone_ and the wormhole _closed,_ and an inhuman sound ripped itself out of her lungs and she ran towards where it had been but it was no use.

It was an eternity because all of a sudden she was left in silence, alone, the Beast Ball still in her hand, before her fingers relaxed without her input and it clattered on the floor with a bang. She didn’t notice, too busy staring, aimless, at the space where the wormhole had been. He was taken to the other dimension, and though they were close, they hadn’t quite developed a method to open their own. They couldn’t get there. He was gone.

He was gone.  


Lusamine wasn’t sure how long she stood there. It was another eternity before she finally moved. She didn’t know what to do. Soon enough she found herself back at home, opening the door and rushing in, not quite in control of her limbs. She’d never found the children so annoying, Gladion and Lillie running to her, eyes filled with childish concern. They were clueless.

Maybe not as clueless as she thought, though, because they asked where their father was, and that was what did it. She barely suppressed another inhuman wail before she finally crashed into their shared bedroom (at least, it used to be theirs.) She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t cry. What she _needed_ to do was find a way to get to him to _save_ him, because she wouldn’t settle for those last few seconds to be her last few seconds with him _ever._  


Find a way to save Mohn. Find a way to save him. Save him. Save him. _Save him!_

How? How? She couldn’t do it now, she needed to research, but it wouldn’t be quick enough, it had already been long enough, it had already been too long, what if it was too late? What if, what if?

She was too late. Too late.  


She stood, her eyes uncomfortably wide and unblinking, emptily staring at the wall. She was too late. Mohn was _gone._ (Not really gone, forever? _No!)_

What was she going to do? It was _her fault!_

Despite her unwillingness, her eyes filled with tears rapidly and overflowed, spilling over her face and falling off her chin in droplets. She couldn’t stop them from coming, barely even tried. They kept coming, and they came more, hot and fat and bitter.

Mohn was gone.  


Her face twisted horribly and her fists clenched until her knuckles turned white and they started to ache. She couldn’t suppress a piteous sound escaping her, much like the whistle of a kettle. She couldn’t break down. She couldn’t, not now, when Mohn needed her, but she couldn’t help it. She shook her head, trying to get rid of it, but she couldn’t, and everything was going downhill way too quickly.

Everything was _too much,_ too much, and her emotions were bubbling over like water boiled for too long, hot and wild and scalding. They burned. They rose into her throat, clogging it and choking her, and she stumbled back onto the bed, sitting there. She couldn’t think straight, her thoughts running wild until she wasn’t thinking much at all. Everything was in chaos and then there was knocking on her door (it was so gentle, she almost didn’t hear it at all), and, when she didn’t respond, it was followed by a harder knock, and she could tell by the mutters behind the door that it was Lillie and Gladion, respectively, and she _didn’t want to see them._  


Her children could not see her in this state, not ever, and _especially_ when they didn’t even know about their father yet. She couldn’t see them, either, when she was like this, because she wasn’t herself, and she wasn’t sure what she might do. She didn’t want to risk it.  


Grief overwhelmed her, and panic, because they were knocking more, and even over the rushing in her ears she could hear them shouting “Mother, are you alright? What happened?”

She didn’t see another way to get them to leave, so (she meant to shout, barely even raising her voice, but her voice was much too shrill and thick to be only that) she shrieked “Go _away!”_  


It was silent, then, and she could hear their footsteps walking away. At least, for that, she was grateful. But Mohn was still _gone,_ and she was still dangerously on the edge. She needed to get under control, _now._

She stumbled into the bathroom, staring into the mirror. She was a mess, the opposite of perfection.

She was _slipping._

She looked awful, and she gazed intensely into her own eyes, clouded with pain, and then she squeezed them shut and shook her head vigorously. She had to snap out of it.

Finally, she stopped, and was left panting, her desperate breath shrill and shallow. But she’d calmed down, at least a little. There was only one thing, clear in her mind. Find Mohn. Save Mohn. Find a way to get to Ultra Space, research, and then find him. Save him. Bring him back home.  


After rubbing her eyes for a second, and taking one last look at herself, she ran out of her room and to her study, ignoring the children. It was neat. She looked at the books on the shelves, so tidily arranged, and, with a sweep of her arm, knocked them off, tomes and papers clattering on the floor, she picked them up and spread them haphazardly across her desk. This was her research, written by herself and Mohn, along with other resources they’d used. She had to find a way. She had to do it.

She fell into the chair and scooted in, eyes unfocused and darting around. She couldn’t concentrate, but she had to, because she had to _figure out a way to Ultra Space._ She had to do it.  


She sat there for an eternity, reading book after book, words blending into each other. She did it all night. She did it all day, and the following night, and night after night, she researched. At Aether Paradise, she researched more.  


Her children became nuisances, full of questions and concern and tears. There was a funeral arranged for Mohn. She didn’t attend. He wasn’t _dead._  


Something had changed within her, along the way, lost among the books and the nights and nights of poring over them.  


Maybe it was lost the moment Mohn was taken.  


(She knew, deep down, that Gladion was right when he argued with her and ran away. She _was_ obsessed. But it was _just to get Mohn back!_ She _had to!)_

Their family was a mess after Mohn was taken. And so, if she couldn’t get Mohn back right away (even though she was getting there, she _was,_ she would save him, she had to) then she had to salvage what was left of her family. They had to be perfect, like they were before. If they were perfect, then they would be happy. It would all be okay. Maybe, somehow, if her family was perfect again, it would make up for the gaping hole in her heart. Maybe she’d be able to _find him_ and she’d bring him home and he’d fit into the hole perfectly, like the last piece in a puzzle settling into place, and she would be whole again.

It would be like it was before. 

Perfect.  


It had to be, because this was the one goal she was chasing, and she knew it was consuming her life, but sacrifices had to be made (hadn’t her whole life been sacrifices, really, sacrifices _others_ had to make?)  


She knew, she knew, somewhere. There was a whisper in the back of her mind, feeding her truths she didn’t want to hear. Gladion’s words had rung true with the little voice, and it had agreed with him. It told her that _she_ was the one who was tearing her family apart, not Mohn’s disappearance. That all her children wanted was their mother, because they’d lost _two_ parents when their father was taken and she dived into her research rather than face the real world.

The little voice was a liar.  


When she was in the Nihilego, she’d had a small moment of clarity, when Lillie had yelled at her. But it was too late. It was too late, and she’d been filled with regret, but there was no point. It was too late. And so she pushed it aside. She pushed it aside, and it was easy to reason away, to ignore.

The Nihilego was lying to her.

When Gladion had left, she’d been forced to confront some hard truths. Her son had blamed her and then run away, and while she’d initially been angry— what if he was right? What if he was _right?_  


She’d ignored that, too, preferring to hate him and forget about him. He wasn’t her real family if he betrayed her.

She couldn’t lie to herself about one thing, though. After she’d been weakened and freed from the Nihilego, she’d faced Lillie, and…  


She’d never looked more beautiful. 

And it made her _realize_ she loved her daughter. She did. She loved Lillie.  


And she’d been filled with regret, again, for a split second. About how she’d treated her daughter. She’d never laid a harming hand on Lillie, but she didn’t have to. Her ignorance was enough. Her harsh words were enough. Her obsession with power was enough. Her disregard for her feelings, wants, and needs was enough.  


And why was _this_ what made her love Lillie again? Realizing she was beautiful?

She’d shaken it off, because that was _wrong,_ they would be a perfect family once they got Mohn back, and everything would be perfect again.

One thing stuck, though.

A parent’s love should never be conditional.

-.-.-.-

Lillie sat in her old room in Aether Paradise, looking through the window at the almost-full moon shining up above. Her face was set in an uncertain expression, eyebrows furrowed and eyes shadowed. She was exhausted. More than that, though, she was conflicted and confused. There was something…off about Lusamine last night, when they fought those really tough Ultra Beasts. She couldn’t quite place it, but it reminded her of why she was doubting her mother in the first place. She’d almost seemed…predatory. And she’d _seemed_ genuine, she really had, when she’d asked for Ash’s aura, but Lillie knew how to spot a Lusamine lie, having lived with her for so many years.

She didn’t like it one bit. And, more than that, she _needed_ to talk to Lusamine. It wasn’t to apologize. She needed answers. She needed to _know why_ Lusamine had treated her the way she had all those years. Her answer would determine whether Lillie loved her mother or not, after this.

She needed to do it _now._

She’d asked to stay with Lusamine after last night. She’d wanted answers, and she’d wanted to figure out what was going on. She hadn’t really had the chance to speak with Lusamine, the woman locking herself up in her study (like she so often used to do after their father disappeared)  


So Lillie found herself creeping down the stairs, walking to the door of the study, and knocking. “Mother?”

A pause. A muffled sigh. “What _is it,_ Lillie, I’m busy in here!”

Not a good sign already, Lillie thought, but she was willing to give her mother the benefit of the doubt. She was, after all, a busy woman. She mustered up her courage and replied “I need to speak with you! It won’t take long.”

  
After another moment, the door was opened, and Lillie tried not to react with surprise. Lusamine didn’t look good. She was haggard, tired like the rest of them, but also…happy? There was a certain pleasure on her face, but it looked unnatural, and she didn’t like it at all.

Her mother sighed again. “Come in, then. Please, Lillie, make it quick.”  


She nodded, and then her mother was sitting at her desk, Lillie across from her like someone trying to make an appointment at a doctor’s office. She didn’t like how small it made her feel. There were books and papers splayed over Lusamine’s desk in a haphazard mess and she tried to ignore it, instead focusing on her mother’s intimidating and expectant expression.  


“Mother, I—I _need_ to know. Please give me a straight answer with this. Why have you always _lied_ to me? Why did you treat me the way you did when I was little? It was like you never cared, and it was like I—!”

She was cut off by Lusamine suddenly standing up, her wheeled chair rolling back dramatically. Her eyes were wide and she looked angry. Her voice was very quiet. “ _What_ did you say? Are you calling me a _bad mother?”_  


Suddenly Lillie was starting to rethink this whole thing, but she was too deep now, and she knew she’d hate herself forever if she gave up now. Trying to do damage control (she hadn’t meant to make her _angry),_ she said “No! No, I’m not saying you’re a bad mother, Mother! I just _want_ to know why it was necessary for you to do what you did? Why was it necessary for you to pretend Gladion didn’t exist? Why did you—?”  


Lusamine’s voice was shrill. “ _Oh,_ so we’re bringing _him_ into this now? We’re bringing the _traitor_ into this now? Fine! Fine, then. If we’re talking about him, then let’s talk about you! I thought I _told_ you that he betrayed us, that he hates us, that he hates _me!_ I thought I told you that! I thought I told you that, and yet you are _fraternizing with a traitor!”_  


Fraternizing with a _traitor?_ He was her _brother!_ (And, she couldn’t help but wonder, was this all it took to push Lusamine over the edge? Was she really that unstable? Sure, she was being more accusatory than she’d ever been, but what was this going to turn into?)  


“Mother, he’s my _brother!_ He’s your _son!_ You can’t _pretend_ that he’s not still family! Even if you hate him, you can’t decide what I do with my own life! And he _doesn’t hate me!_ ”

  
Lusamine’s voice quieted again, very suddenly. “Oh, so he doesn’t hate you, but he hates _me._ Tell me, Lillie, what have you done to get on his _good side?_ What have I done to make him _hate me, huh?”_

This felt like a trap. This felt like she was backed into a corner, but she had to answer because Lusamine expected her to. _More_ than that, Lusamine wanted her to drop it in the first place. And she really, really wanted to. Every single bone in her body was _screaming_ at her to run, her fight-or-flight instincts kicking in. But Lillie was going to _fight._ She’d run all her life. She’d always, _always_ backed down from Lusamine. Gladion had stood up to her. And look at what had happened to him.

She would _not_ back down. No _longer._  


“Mother, I don’t think he hates you. I don’t think he ever _hated_ you. But he ran away because he couldn’t handle living in the home that I lived in for so many years, with you! So let me ask again. Why did you treat me the way you did? What was the reason, Mother? I under _stand_ you were hurt by what happened with father, but—“  


“—but _what,_ Lillie? Finish that sentence.”

“but…”

Lusamine started laughing, a bitter one, and it disconcerted Lillie so much that she couldn’t remember what she’d wanted to say. “Lillie, I can’t believe you _fell_ for it! I can’t believe you fell for Gladion’s little act! Can’t you see that he’s tricking you? He doesn’t really care! He wants to get to me, he wants to use you to hurt me, and he wants to hurt you! How could you possibly forget what he did? And so _young,_ too! He didn’t belong with us from the start.”  


Lillie’s eyes widened. _What?_ Gladion was _not_ lying to her, he wasn’t, he was…

At her silence, confused hesitance on her face, Lusamine’s expression of anger morphed into one more self-satisfied, and Lillie noticed it. Something changed. She could _see_ it now, _see_ when it was happening. Lusamine was manipulating her, trying to turn her against Gladion so that the only safe person to run to was her mother.  


She wouldn’t fall for it.  


“You’re lying.”

Her slowly-growing smile fell. “Lillie, I’m not lying!”

“Besides, even if he _was,_ I have other friends! I have Ash, and M—“

“Ash? _Please,_ don’t get me _started_ on that boy! He’s not really your friend either, Lillie! He’s lying to you! They all are! What makes you think any of your little friends would even _want_ to be with you? Look at you, you think that they’re impressed?”

She was circling around Lillie, like a Mandibuzz who was about to swoop in for the kill. Her smile was too wide, _way_ too wide, skewed and misplaced on her face, and Lillie shrunk in on herself. Lusamine was _lying!_

“That’s _not true—!”_

“Oh, it’s not true, is it? Lillie, my dear, trust me, I’m not a liar. I’m your _mother!”_ Her hands stroked Lillie’s chin for just a moment, before being ripped away.

“My friends _care_ about me!”  


“Oh, do they? Why would they, come on now, really? You don’t know _how_ to be a friend! Trust me, dear, I can see how they act. They’re only nice to you out of pity!”

Lillie stood, stock still, staring at Lusamine. When had she gotten so…villainous? So nasty? She’d never insulted Lillie this outright, it was always concealed behind backhanded compliments (because that’s what she realized they were, now. They were _never_ meant to be genuine. Her mother had _always_ been degrading her. For what? To control her?) and a syrupy-sweet voice.

“Don’t be _dumb,_ Lillie. It’s time to end this once and for all. Don’t talk to Gladion again. Leave your fake friends. Come, we could be together again! Come to live with me, your _mother!_ Trust—“

“ _No!”_

There was a moment of silence, but it stretched for eternity as the gravity of the situation at hand sunk in. Lillie said _no._ Lillie had never said no, not outright. She’d never had the guts. She felt powerful, defiant. She didn’t regret it.

She looked at Lusamine. Her mother stood there, and she’d never looked older than she did in that moment (she’d really aged, recently, after the Nihilego, and it showed. Lillie realized, at that moment, that Lusamine _was_ old. She wasn’t the youthful woman she once was. She aged. She was temporary. She was _human._  


She _wasn’t_ perfection.)  


“No?” And there was such disgust and disbelief in that one syllable. Lillie had never said no. She hadn’t believed it possible. There was a pause, and the tension in the room rose sharply. 

“ _Oh.”_

Lusamine’s demeanor changed, and Lillie couldn’t quite read it. It was strangely smug. “ _I see how it is.”_

  
Lillie stared back, confused. What did she mean? (And besides that, what had she provoked Lusamine into becoming?

Or did Lusamine just _want_ her to think it was her fault?)  


She was smiling again, smugly, and Lillie wasn’t sure what to think. Everything had shifted so quickly— Lillie had felt in control, powerful, and strong for the first time ever in the presence of her mother. Suddenly, though, in half a minute, Lusamine was back on top, and Lillie felt suddenly very small and weak and all she wanted was to disappear.

“No, Lillie? You’re so mature now, aren’t you then? I suppose _you_ know best, now?”

Lillie didn’t have a counter. She wasn’t sure what Lusamine was saying.  


“Oh, you’re so grown up now, so clever! Look at you, you know everything, don’t you?” Her mother had strode forward, patting Lillie’s head patronizingly even as she called her grownup, and Lillie knew what she was doing. She was passive aggressive. She was sarcastic, and she was implying that Lillie was the one out of line for saying no. (Wasn’t she, though?  


She shook her head at the intrusive thought. _No._ She was not out of line. She _needed_ these answers, she _deserved_ them. Lusamine was manipulating her, like always. She was angry, and…and she was _scared,_ too, because she was losing control of Lillie. That’s why she was getting so desperate, so insulting— she was resorting to every last measure she had to keep Lillie under her thumb.)

“Lillie, Gladion is _lying_ to you! Don’t let him deceive you! He’s only being friendly to _get_ something out of you, to use you! Oh, but I guess you’re not so naive, right, you clever little grown up! Do you possibly think that he’d really want to be your brother again? What would he get out of it? No, he’s trying to do something! He’s trying to get the Ultra Beasts, or he’s trying to spite me just for the fun of it!”  


That didn’t even make sense! That wasn’t true! “Mother, no—!”  


“Why don’t you test him then? Tell him you’ve cut off ties with me! You _have,_ already! Test him, watch, you see! He’ll leave once there’s no use for you anymore, once he can’t use you to hurt me! Test him!”

Lillie’s resolve hardened. “I will!” 

Why don’t you confront him, pointing fingers, like you did to me? _See what happens!”_  


Lillie didn’t say anything.

“Trust me, my dear!’ She snapped her fingers right in Lillie’s face, and it was everything she could do not to flinch. “He’ll leave you just like that!”

“No, he won’t!’  


“I won’t say ‘I told you so!’”  


She was circling again, and she was _angry,_ and was this really the Lusamine buried underneath all those smiles? “So, Lillie, you’re _so_ mature now! You don’t need me anymore, my little adult!”

She was yelling now, and that was even scarier. “You know best, _do you?!”_  


She threw her arms out in a grand gesture. “Are you really my daughter anymore?” Her voice grew in volume and intensity, and it was shrill. “Are you going to leave me, too? Will _you betray me?!”_  


Her voice— it was just like the yells she’d heard, all those years ago, trying to plug her ears and keep the tears at bay, when Lusamine and Gladion fought. They were shrill. They were screams. Her shrieking reached a fever pitch and she truly looked like a woman gone off the edge. And that, and that, right there— it was the final straw. Lusamine had yelled at Gladion like this, and the next day he was gone without so much as a goodbye. Lillie understood him, fully, now, and she had an answer to the ultimatum he’d given her on Silvally’s back.

If this was what had motivated Gladion to “betray” their mother, then Lillie would have to betray her too.  


And she’d have nothing left. She’d have no family left.

And it would be her fault.

Lillie wanted to respond, she wanted to form an argument, but she could barely think straight, what with the way Lusamine was in her face, her chaotic motions distracting her.

Lusamine laughed, again, bitterly. She started to pull away, and Lillie couldn’t help herself before she reached out and yelled “Mother, wait!”  


Lusamine was at the door, and she’d swung it open, and light flooded in from the hall, casting odd shadows on the woman. She looked Lillie in the eyes, and Lillie could barely keep her focus, almost lost in the intensity of her gaze. “Lillie, you understand me? Don’t come back! Ever!”  


And she slammed the door.

It echoed out, harshly, and she heard the click-clack of heels striding away on the wooden floor. It felt final. It was.  


Lillie was left, stricken, for just a moment before she sucked in a deep breath and clenched her fists. “Fine,” she started, to only herself. “If that’s how it’s going to be, then _fine._ ”  


She walked out of the study, down the hallway, and out of the house. Her eyes weren’t focused on anything in particular, and she was too lost in her own thoughts to pay attention to her surroundings, and it cost her when she suddenly ran into someone. She looked up sharply, and her heart filled with dread when she saw who it was.

“Lillie? What’s going on?”  


“Gladion!” she started, uneasy and voice only slightly trembling. “I didn’t expect to see you here!”  


His eyes narrowed. “I could say the same. Lillie, what are you doing here? What happened?”  


Her shoulders rose up to her ears, much as she tried to control them. She couldn’t help but stutter, just a little, too distracted to come up with a convincing lie. “Brother, I—I was just staying with Mother, and…going out for a night walk! I…”

He looked suspicious. “Lillie.”  


She looked up at him, and realized, _this is it. Test him._ She shouldn’t _have_ to test him, but she wanted to prove Lusamine wrong. He would _be_ on her side. He _wasn’t_ a traitor. Neither was she. Lusamine was a liar.  


“Gladion. I have the answer to the choice you posed me, back before we went into Ultra Space when we were going after Mother. I am leaving. I am no longer affiliated with Mo…with Lusamine.”

She watched him closely, searching for a reaction. He didn’t react, for a second, staring at her in silence, searching her. A small smile, just a hint, broke out on his face. “I’m happy for you, Lillie. Do you want to talk about what happened?”

Ha! She knew it! Lusamine was _wrong!_  


“No, I’m alright. Thank you, Brother.”

-.-.-.-.-

  
She strode away from the closed door and the girl still behind it, almost running. She inhaled, deeply, through her nose, and _refused_ to let the liquid pooling in her eyes spill over.  


Lillie had never answered, but she didn’t need to. Lusamine knew what her daughter felt, by her silence and the look of determination on her face. Even if Lillie had apologized, she wouldn’t have accepted it. It was _too_ late.

Lillie was all that was left of her family (besides Mohn, but Mohn was still lost in Ultra Space. There was no hole for him to fill now because the hole had spread so large until the family ceased to exist). It was only her. Only Lusamine. Lillie had be _trayed_ her. She was a traitor too, now.

Lusamine was all alone. She smiled, reaching her room, her vanity, and staring in the mirror. Lusamine was alone, just like she was after Mohn was taken.

There was no family left. There was no one left. Lusamine had nothing left to lose.

Hate pooled in her heart, spite rising. Bitterness festered and took over her limbs. She grabbed the vanity and pushed it with all of her might to the floor. It shattered with a crash. She barely glanced at it, but the one look she took told her all she needed to know. That mirror, the reflection— it was shattered just as her relationship with Lillie was (just has her _control_ over Lillie was). Just as her family was. Just as her _perfection_ was.  


Nothing left to lose.

She smiled again, a bitter one. It was time. She hadn’t planned on doing it so soon— she’d wanted to plan, double-check, make sure everything was going to play out perfectly— but she had nothing left to lose. It was time.

A wry chuckle.

Watch out, Alola.  


Watch out, Ash.

Watch out, _Lillie._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to anyone who recognized some of the lyrics from "Mother Knows Best (Reprise)" from Tangled in the scene between Lillie and Lusamine! I took huge inspiration from that because it's a great scene. Also, for that last scene with Lusamine, I'm getting big "World Burn" from Mean Girls the musical vibes, just saying!
> 
> Please let me know what you think! Also, next chapter starts the climax! I'm really excited to start writing it!


	9. And the Sky Opened Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was an eerie quiet, all of a sudden. The bird-Pokemon stopped chirping, Pikachu stopped his chattering on Ash’s shoulder. The waves crashing on the shore were silent. And the sky opened up.
> 
> It was a wormhole, and the thought immediately pounded his heart as his eyes widened. This was bigger than normal. Would it be even more this time, that they’d have to deal with? How long was this going to last?
> 
> But it kept opening. It kept opening, and it darkened the beauty of the Alolan skies. Pokemon were hiding.
> 
> And, then. They started coming out. They were Nihilego.
> 
> And oh no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...this has been a long time coming. I think it's been three weeks? Maybe even a month? Not sure. Anyways, I have been very, very busy. I had originally planned for the climax to be no more than 20,000 words, split up into two chapters. Now, it's going to be three chapters, and this one is already 16,000 so...sorry not sorry?
> 
> Regardless, I hope the wait was worth it! It's a LOT longer than usual, and, to be honest, I could have gone longer. So, fair bit of warning, there's a lot more cussing in this chapter, especially in dialogue! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Wakefulness came to him slowly, groggily, but his heart was pumping the second he was up. He groaned, barely able to keep his eyes open. They burned. His head pounded the same way it had the morning after that one time he and Misty had stolen Delia’s supply of alcohol on a stop in Pallet.

Pikachu stirred and climbed onto his chest, and the Pokemon looked just as exhausted as his trainer. What happened, exactly?

All of a sudden it crashed into his head again. _Oh._ The Ultra Beasts. Lusamine. The aura. That had been the night before last, but yesterday had been such a blur he could barely remember what happened (he was pretty sure Professor Kukui had deemed their lesson that day “meditation” and then let all of them fall asleep. Thank Arceus for that man.)

Why was he so anxious, then? His heart lurched into his throat and his hands were cold and shaky. What was it?

He wasn’t sure exactly _why,_ but he knew that he needed backup. Right now. Before it was too late. Before…he wasn’t sure. Something big was coming. _Really big._ He could feel it deep in his bones, and Pikachu was on edge too. There was something off in the very core of Alola, something deeply wrong. Someone had been messing with something they shouldn’t.

_Ugh._ And wasn’t _that_ a familiar thought?

He needed _Riolu_ there, now, because Ash had the feeling that Riolu wasn’t going to be enough help just in his head— he was going to need every bit of extra power he could get.

So that was what found him at Professor Kukui’s phone, dialing a familiar number. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the existence of timezones, and he was rudely reminded of that when greeted with an exhausted and annoyed Tracey’s face. Still, his old friend tried to remain as cheery as he could. “Ash, what are you calling for? It’s two in the morning over in Kanto!”

He laughed, for a second, before his face turned more serious than Tracey had seen in a long time. “Tracey, sorry, I forgot. But this is important— I need to transfer Riolu over as soon as possible. Can you do that?”

Tracey’s gaze shifted over to the additional monitor, where he could search up the Pokemon’s file. “Sure thing, Ash, but—why is this so urgent? Why can’t it wait?”

Ash took a deep breath and looked around nervously (which was even more concerning. Since when was Ash scared like this?) before lowering his voice. “I…can’t exactly explain it, but something _big_ is about to happen here, and I need his help.”

Tracey’s eyes widened and he sat back. From anyone else, that wouldn’t be enough clarification, and maybe it wouldn’t be enough from Ash even on a better day. But if this was something _big_ for Ash, then…

Tracey was scared for the fate of the world. He hadn’t seen Ash look this nervous since he was first told he was Lugia’s Chosen One all those years ago.

“Okay, Ash, I’ll go get his ball for you, give me a minute or two.”

Ash nodded eagerly, and, in the moments he had to wait, he fidgeted and couldn’t stay still. Pikachu trilled concernedly on his shoulder. “I’m okay, buddy, don’t worry. I just—this feels bad. You can feel it too, right?”

Pikachu nodded. He told Ash that it felt like— it felt like when people disturbed legendaries. All Pokemon could feel that, especially those in the area and _especially_ those of the same typings. Here, he couldn’t tell what it was— it was just a general feeling of dread weighing heavy in his stomach.

Ash was about to ask who it could be when Tracey was back. “Alright, Ash, I’ve got his Pokeball! Do you have a transfer machine?”

Ash nodded. He’d asked Kukui if they could get one in the house, just in case, and so he could quickly exchange if he needed. “Okay, give me a second.”

A few seconds later, Riolu’s ball was materializing in the machine and he grabbed it as quickly as he could. “Thank you, Tracey,” he began urgently. “This is going to help a lot.”

“Sure thing, Ash, but tell me if you need anything else. If this is as bad as you think it is, you might need some more help. I’ll tell Professor Oak once he wakes up.”

For just a moment, hesitation showed on Ash’s face, before he relaxed. “Okay, but— I don’t even know what it is yet. And please don’t—“

“—tell your mom. Yes, Ash, I know. I won’t.”

A small smile broke out on his face. “Thanks, Trace. I owe you one.”

The screen went black, his old friend probably more than ready to go to sleep, and Ash stood up. He needed to _do_ something, but he wasn’t sure what, and the anxiety was eating him alive. He paced, back and forth, living room to kitchen, living room to kitchen, what to do, what to do?

He couldn’t really _do_ anything, not yet, because he didn’t even know what was happening. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stay still in class today and he hoped Professor Kukui wouldn’t get angry at him (he knew he probably wouldn’t— Professor Kukui wasn’t like that— but he couldn’t help but feel like he would. His teachers at his elementary had always hated his restlessness.)

Pikachu sat on the floor, eyes following his trainer back and forth, back and forth, and 

his ears drooped further the faster Ash paced.

Suddenly, a noise on the stairs made Ash jump out of his skin, and with a frantic look back he realized it was just Professor Kukui. He looked worried. “Whoa, Ash, jumpy today, aren’t we?”

He didn’t respond, still feeling a bit offset, and Kukui’s attempted smile dropped. “Keiki, what’s wrong? You look really anxious.”

Ash wasn’t sure what to say. How could he even describe the feeling to Kukui, and, more than that, what reason would Kukui have to believe a hunch Ash had (he knew that he would— he _did_ have a reason, after everything that Ash had told him, but, in Ash’s experience, adults rarely trusted kids off of hunches, especially in somewhere like Alola.)

At Ash’s hesitation, Kukui spoke. “Is it about Lusamine? I _knew_ there was something wrong with the other night— it was too manufactured! She was trying to _get_ something, and I’m worried for you kids.”

Ash’s eyebrows rose, and with it, his own suspicion did as well. He’d been feeling weird about it— there was something wrong, whatever made Rotom shut down, whatever put Riolu on edge— whatever it was, it was bad, but Ash was too distracted to examine it in depth. Finally, he tried on a shaky smile. “I’m fine, Professor Kukui, I just feel a little weird. I’ll tell you if anything more happens.”

Pikachu whined nervously from the ground, and the man couldn’t help but be worried by the little mouse. But he trusted Ash, and he trusted that he could take care of himself but would lean on Kukui when needed.

Soon enough, though, they found themselves walking to school, Rotom buzzing excitedly (and wasn’t that a contrast to its lifeless body the other night). Pikachu was still worried, and the rest of Ash’s Pokemon had been as well when he’d fed them. (Professor Kukui had asked about Riolu, and Ash had dismissed it easily with an “I missed him!”

It was true, after all. It just wasn’t the only reason.)

Trying to find some normalcy, Ash rushed ahead, running and laughing and trying to push his worries out of his mind, for just a moment. He spun, watching the blue sky lit up with a radiant yellow sun, whose golden glow shined on his skin and refracted off the leaves of palm trees, glittering and glistening like golden raindrops. Alola was beautiful. It felt more like his home than any region had, in a long time (other than _home_ home, but even then, it felt all too small now that he’d seen so much of the world). He wanted to protect it, to preserve its beauty and joyous energy. Everyone here was so happy. He wanted it to stay that way.

So he would fight with everything he was made of. Not only for himself, or his friends, or his Pokemon. Not only because it was his job. He would fight for the beauty of the world, of Alola, of this beautiful, vibrant place brimming with hope and life.

He would fight for the promise he made Lysandre— that he would never, _ever_ hate the world, or grow bitter to the light and love within.

He would _fight._

Soon enough, he was outside of the classroom and took a moment to enjoy the sun and the breeze once more, spotting Kukui further behind and waving to him. Ash was about to enter the classroom when _something_ in him pulled his vision toward the sky. There was nothing there.

There was an eerie quiet, all of a sudden. The bird-Pokemon stopped chirping, Pikachu stopped his chattering on Ash’s shoulder. The waves crashing on the shore were silent. And the sky opened up.

It was a wormhole, and the thought immediately pounded his heart as his eyes widened. This was bigger than normal. Would it be even more this time, that they’d have to deal with? How long was this going to last?

But it kept opening. It kept opening, and it darkened the beauty of the Alolan skies. Pokemon were hiding.

And, then. They started coming out. They were Nihilego.

And _oh no._

-.-.-.-.-

Lillie sat in the backseat of Hobbes’ car, looking longingly out the window as the world passed by. As much as she hated to admit it, she _missed_ her mother. She missed her biting remarks, looks of disappointment. She missed her smothering hugs, embarrassing her in public.

She _missed_ those rare looks of approval, the looks of _pride_ in her daughter. She _missed_ the hug her mother gave her, stroking her hair.

And she hated herself for it.

Should she go back? Should she apologize?

But it was just a thought, a fleeting thought, one she shook out of her head. _No._ Lillie was stronger than that. She was not a doll, she was not a _pet,_ and she was not going to be manipulated like one. She didn’t need her mother. She had never needed her.

Lillie would not be a lifeless husk of a puppet, doing everything she could to please her mother and feeling like dirt when she couldn’t even get a single acknowledgment. She was worth more than that— she’d learned that much from her friends, from her teacher, from her _brother,_ who did not hate her, and who did not scorn her. Her brother, who, once they became friends again, cared about her.

Her brother, who was _nothing_ like what Lusamine told her he would be.

Lusamine, who _lied._

Lillie would not be manipulated anymore.

Still, though, she was uneasy. Lusamine had never seemed so dangerous, so villainous, so _insane_ as she had in that moment.

Lillie had pushed her to the edge (although it wasn’t Lillie’s fault, if that was all it took to push her to the edge in the first place). What would she do now?

Lusamine was dangerous. Lillie was scared of what she might do.

And she knew, she knew that she’d promised Ash they’d both keep a close eye on her mo— on Lusamine.

But she _really_ didn’t want to tell him. She was barely ready to admit it to herself, to Gladion.

She hoped she wouldn’t be forced to.

The car pulled up to the Pokemon School and she got out, anxiety tight in her body. It was fine. She could face her friends. They _were_ her friends. They cared. They were not _faking._

_Lusamine_ was the liar. Not them.

Mallow and Lana were in the room by the time she got there. They waved her hi, and it was so normal. They didn’t know.

It felt so weird to come back to school after last night. It felt…wrong.

Lillie’s resolve strengthened and she smiled and walked into the room. She would not be controlled by these weird feelings, by the traces of manipulations left in her like puppet strings tangled in her heart.

She would not.

-.-.-.-.-

Silvally was acting odd. _Really_ odd. It was restless, and scared, and wouldn’t stay still.

“Silvally, what’s wrong?”

It barely even acknowledged Gladion, pacing around the cave they’d settled in (he hadn’t had the time to get a proper room, training until the early morning). It was afraid, and that was more frightening, because Silvally was _never_ scared.

What was going on?

Gladion was filled with dread as a memory from the night before resurfaced, Lillie’s disturbed and almost-unreadable expression distracting her enough that she didn’t notice him until she quite literally ran into him. She’d been extremely bothered and he’d never seen her like that (not like he’d gotten the chance to see her all that often). She’d tried to hide it, before admitting (fearfully) that she had left Lusamine.

New worry had risen in him (what had _happened?_ And how had Lusamine reacted? Was she the reason Lillie looked so scared? What had she done?) along with some sort of relief and happiness. Gladness, because she had chosen the right option, and pride, because it must have taken guts.

Lillie had excused herself quickly after that, and Gladion wasn’t satisfied, so, in the darkness of night, he snuck into the old mansion he used to live in (and shuddered at the sight of the rooms. This wasn't a home of happy memories.) He walked, listening carefully, until he heard signs of life, and made a beeline to where Lusamine was sure to be. Her bedroom.

The door was slightly ajar, and he stood, looking in the crack, not daring to go any closer. He didn't want to be seen.

Lusamine was…

He hadn’t seen her like this in a long time. Not since he’d run away. Her mirror was shattered on the ground. She was breathing heavily. He couldn’t make out her face, but he could make out enough of her body language that she was upset, _angry._

Volatile. Unstable.

At the edge.

Cold fear rose in his throat so suddenly that it was all he could do to stay silent as he fled the house, getting as far away as he could before he dared confront these feelings.

_Fear?_

Gladion hadn’t felt fear like that since…since the night he’d run away. He’d been terrified of Lusamine's screams, then, and hurt, and hadn’t seen any other option than to steal away in the night.

Lusamine couldn't take another betrayal.

She was going to do something.

And Silvally wouldn’t stop pacing. Gladion feared they were related. And he wasn't taking any chances. As fast as he could, he traveled to Melemele Island.

He had to be there for Lillie.

Because if Lusamine blamed her for what had happened, then.

She’d need all the help she could get.

-.-.-.-

“Uhh…guys? Come out. Now!”

His classmates, inside, clattered out of the room at his cry, but Ash wasn’t paying attention to them. No, his gaze was entirely for the sky, for the wormhole. They _just kept coming._ This was the Ultra Guardians' job. There were so many. Could his friends even handle ten or more of the Ultra Beasts? They’d had a hard enough time with seven.

But, no. This wasn’t ten. This wasn’t twenty. _No._

_No. Hundreds upon hundreds._

Hundreds of Nihilego swarmed out of the wormhole, so thick that Ash could barely see the blue of the sky anymore. They wouldn’t stop.

Oh _shit._

There had to be at least five hundred by this point, maybe more, and dread rose in him, thick and heavy and burning, bubbling over like lava, slow and dangerous.

How could they _possibly_ deal with this?

This was _so much worse_ than he thought today would be— he knew it would be bad, but not _this_ level bad. Pikachu shrunk on his shoulder, moaning worriedly and shaking his head. His cheeks were sparking and his ears flat against his head. Riolu popped out of his ball, clinging to Ash’s leg and watching.

“Ash, what’s going on—“

“Look.”

He pointed, and they looked, and there was a collective gasp from his friends. Professor Kukui was running to meet them, watching the sky as well. “What’s…happening?”

He looked towards Mallow. “They’re Ultra Beasts. All of them. They’re _invading_ Alola.”

Lillie looked toward the sky, and something crossed her face, something more than the dread reflected across everyone’s expressions. It was almost…regret? Bitter understanding?

Lillie’s blood went cold. This had Lusamine’s name written all over it. There was no way this could possibly be natural. She must have been— messing with them, provoking them— doing something to make them upset.

But even Lusamine couldn’t have predicted such a mass level of exodus from Ultra Space?

Right?

She wasn’t _that_ powerful?

“Children! Is everyone okay? Do you know what’s going on?”

“Professor Kukui, it’s all the Ultra Beasts! They’re swarming Alola! They’re going to hurt people! We have to stop them!”

Something in Kukui’s expression turned fearful (though hidden well, considering) when Ash said that. (He was scared for the boy. Yes, they were technically the children whose job it was to stop Ultra Beast attacks. But for him to suggest so readily that _he,_ that they be the ones to stop _this?_

How much had he been conditioned to believe that was his only choice?)

“Ash, you guys can’t possibly deal with all this—“

“We have to try! Ultra Guardians, is everyone willing to do everything they can to save the day?”

There were a couple of hesitant murmurs, for just a second, before they all raised their hands and chanted “UltRoger!”

Ash nodded decisively. “Okay, then, we need to contact Lusamine. She’s the one who will know what to do with these— she’s studied them, and she was _in_ one.”

Lillie shrunk back, just a little, and Ash noticed it out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn’t focus on it now. He had a one-track mind— save everything. Delegate jobs, find out what they needed to, and then spring into action.

When no one did anything, Ash turned to the Kukui. “Professor, can you contact Lusamine?”

“Ash, maybe we should wait a second. Just hold on, let me talk to Burnet—“

“We don’t have _time!_ Don’t you _see?_ They’re _still_ coming, and there’s gotta be a thousand by now! We don’t have the time to wait a second, or to hesitate, or prepare. We have to do this now. Please. This morning, don’t you remember how you felt?”

Kukui’s conflicted eyes were met by Ash’s stubborn ones, determined and decisive. “Okay, Ash. I’ll call her.”

He did. There was no response. He tried again. No response. “She’s not responding.”

Something about it immediately set off alarm bells in his head. It was something he’d pushed aside this morning in lieu of more important things, but now he wondered. What _was_ it about Lusamine the other night? The whole situation, where he’d used his aura— all of it had felt wrong. And he didn’t like it one bit. 

Ash’s eyebrows furrowed. “Can you contact anyone else at Aether Paradise?”

“I can try.”

Ash’s classmates stood by anxiously, a little startled by this serious, commanding Ash. He was always the happy-go-lucky kid. They weren’t sure they liked this new version of him (though Lillie had seen it. She knew he wasn’t as jovial as he seemed.)

Wicke was called. So was Faba. No response from either of them. “Ash, I’m going to call Professor Burnet. She never went to Aether Paradise this morning— she was planning on taking the day off. She’s still at the house, so whatever’s happening at Aether Paradise shouldn’t have affected her.”

Ash nodded. Riolu barked at him questioningly. Ash kneeled on the ground, eye to eye with him. “Riolu, Aether Paradise is where Lusamine works.”

A nod of understanding. “Riolu, is— is there something that you can figure out about this that I can’t?”

All Riolu knew was that this was the work of humans— though he didn’t know much about Ultra Beasts, he could tell enough about them that this was unnatural. Something was drawing them out. Some sort of—of energy. They had their own toxic auras, and Ash couldn’t help but feel the Ultra Energy within his own body tighten uncomfortably.

Kukui started talking. “Burnet, are you alright?”

A pause. “No, I— have you looked at the sky?”

Another pause, longer this time, before even Ash could hear the gasp on the other end of the line. “They’re Nihilego, yes. They’ve been coming out of the wormhole for around ten minutes, and Ash thinks there’s over a thousand at this point.”

A sigh. “The _kids_ want to deal with it— and, hey. We called Lusamine. We called Faba and Wicke. No one at Aether Paradise is picking up, and, more than that, their phones were going straight to voicemail. Aether Paradise is unreachable. Do you know why? Could you try?”

He nodded. “Yes, please, and come to the school as soon as you can.”

He ended the call and turned towards the children. “Professor Burnet doesn’t know what is causing this, but she’s going to bring as much equipment as she can to try and figure it out. She’s going to see if she can contact anyone at Aether Paradise.”

Ash nodded. “Thank you, Professor. While we’re waiting for that, we need to do as much as we can to protect people. Can we lock down the school? Keep everyone inside, safe from the Ultra Beasts? We shouldn’t send them home or let them be outside. It’s only going to be worse.”

Kukui’s eyes widened. “Lock down the school?”

“Please, Professor. We need to save as many people as possible because the more of the Nihilego take possession of people like they did to Lusamine, the worse this will be. And I’m worried about them going to the other islands too, which will make it harder for us to help there. Please.”

Kukui nodded, but he looked angry. Not at the children, but because of what they were going to have to do (they _shouldn’t have to!_ No child should _ever_ have to be put through something like this!)

He walked as fast he could without running to Principal Oak’s office, where the man was sitting at his computer, unaware of the current situation. “Principal Oak?”

“Professor Kukui, what brings you to my office today?”

“Principal, have you seen what’s going on? We have a critical safety issue, I fear for all of Alola. Come outside and look, quickly!”

Samson sprung out of his swivel chair, hurrying out the door after Kukui. He looked at the sky and put his hand over his heart. “Oh my stars, what is happening? What are those?”

“They’re called Ultra Beasts. They’re from another dimension, and they can really hurt people. They’re swarming Alola. We need to put the school on lockdown as quickly as possible to keep all the students and staff safe.”

“Lockdown? Professor Kukui, that seems a little extreme—“

“It _isn’t._ Trust me. My kids have seen how bad it can get, and so have I. Ultra Beasts are really dangerous. Please, Principal. Better safe than sorry.”

Samson sighed. “Alright, Kukui. But what about you? What about your class?”

“As much as I hate that they will not be as safe as the rest of the children of this school, they are the most equipped out of almost anyone to handle these. They are the Ultra Guardians, a squad recruited by Lusamine, the President of Aether Paradise. And before you say that children shouldn’t have to be the heroes— I know! But Ash, throughout his travels, has gained a lot of experience in situations like this. I trust him to be more than capable.”

Samson looked ready to argue before he sighed. “Alright, Professor. I trust your judgment. Please, keep them safe. Do everything in your power to keep your children safe.”

Kukui smiled wryly. “Always.”

-.-.-.-

Pikachu chirped from his shoulder. “What was that, Pikachu? You think we should get them? I guess they are helpful in these sorts of situations…”

Pikachu nodded in affirmation.

“Which ones? Who’s closest…?”

Another squeak. “You’re right! He has that Dragonite, so he can get around fast…okay. Yeah, I’ll get them.”

Ash’s friends’ faces were twisted into perplexed expressions. Sophocles opened his mouth and was about to ask what the seemingly one-sided conversation was about when Kukui came running back to them, panting slightly. “Okay, kids. School’s on lockdown. What should we do next?”

“Well, it looks like Professor Burnet is coming, so we should talk to her, and then I’m gonna call in a few favors. Then we need to decide how to tackle this thing, I bet people are already being hurt!”

His hands grabbed the wooden banister tightly, as he anxiously kept his eye on the Ultra Beasts flying around in the sky. There were now only a few stray ones that came out of the closing wormhole, but he could only imagine the havoc they were wreaking (he couldn’t help but notice a parallel between the Nihilego wreaking havoc and the vines in Lumiose City, leaving destruction and anguish in their wake. He hoped he wouldn’t have a repeat of last time— having to watch the destruction of a place he viewed as his home. Not again. Not when so many people were at risk.)

“Professor Burnet!” called Lana.

“Hi, kids!” she said somewhat urgently. “How’s everyone holding up?”

Mallow spoke up. “We’re scared, but we’re going to save the day by working together!”

Kukui smiled. Ash’s confidence had rubbed off on his kids pretty early (though he hoped his recklessness hadn’t. That kid had no instinct of self-preservation!)

She started unloading a hastily-packed bag with equipment. “Alright. So, I didn’t have too much, since most of my stuff is at work, but I always carry some equipment in case I stumble across anything—you kids are magnets for that, you know?”

A collectively nervous chuckle. Ash shared a look with Pikachu, and then Riolu. _That_ was an understatement.

“So, I’ve got some stuff that can track what’s caused this— or at least to an extent. This is clearly unnatural behavior, so this device has recorded what is natural and has some information on what provokes them. I’ll do my best. It might take a little while. Sit tight.”

Ash nodded. “Thank you, Professor. So, we need to decide what to do. I’m gonna make a phone call or two. After that, we’re going to need to split into groups to handle this— I don’t want anyone going alone, even with your Pokemon. Everyone prep and decide who’s going with who, kay? I’ll be back soon.”

Professor Kukui narrowed his eyes, torn between waiting by Burnet and talking to Ash. He was being mysterious. Who were these favors…? He was talking like an adult. He was acting more like one than he’d ever seen him before. The man navigated around his students and walked after the retreating Ash.

“Ash, who are you calling for favors? Who do you think’s gonna help here?”

“Professor, give me a minute, and I’ll explain after, okay?”

He nodded, hesitant. Ash took out his phone (at least he’d remembered to bring it, today. He usually forgot, being so unused to carrying one around during all his travels. He hadn’t seen a huge need for them a lot of the time, especially when his friends had their own devices, and the fact that for much of the time they traveled, they were out of range for cell service anyways. (He hadn’t kept the one Kellyn forced him to have after Sinnoh. It broke along the way, at some point, and he hadn’t tried to get a new one.)) He scrolled through the contacts, before landing on one (and for a second, he had to chuckle before he called him. He’d been so _jealous_ when he’d found out Ash had stayed with Cynthia and yet didn’t even call!)

The phone rang, and after three rings, a groggy voice picked up. “…Ash? Why the fuck are you calling me at 3:30 am?”

Ash winced apologetically. “Ooh, sorry about that, Lance. I’m in Alola, so the timezones are different, but, we’ve kinda got something big going on here. Something that I need your help for.”

A groan. “Ash Ketchum, is it even possible for you to go two fucking months without something world-ending happening?”

He gave a breathy laugh. “Probably not. But, come on. There are these things called Ultra Beasts in Alola, which are like…I think they’re Pokemon? From another dimension? And they’re dangerous? Anyways, like a thousand came out of a wormhole in the sky and they’re attacking Alola and the citizens. I know you weren’t there,” and this was just a little bit of a jab, “but I don’t want a repeat of Kalos. Or Hoenn. You’re fast on Dragonite. Can you get here as soon as possible?”

Another groan. “Yes, Ash, I’ll be there in two hours, tops. Man, you are a disaster magnet.”

He laughed again. “You bet. Okay, bye, I need to talk to Cynthia. Hopefully she won’t be as much of a jerk as you.”

There was an indignant “Hey!” but Ash had already ended the call. He looked in front of him to see Kukui’s perplexed face. “Ash, was that Lance as in _Champion of Kanto and Johto Lance?”_

And, as much as it was bizarre, Ash replied with a flippant “Yup” before turning to his phone again, serious.

_Lance?_ Ash knew _Lance?_ And casually enough to have him in his personal contacts and to _call him a jerk?_

And did he mention _Cynthia?!_

He couldn’t let himself dwell on the peculiarity of it all and decided that this was just another Ash Thing. Of _course_ Ash knew two of the Champions casually enough to call them (if not _more?!)_

He would confront that later.

Cynthia took a little longer to pick up, and when she did, there was concern in her voice. “Ash? What is it? Why are you calling me so early?”

Another wince. “Sorry, Cynthia, I wish I didn’t have to wake you up like this, but there’s something going on in Alola, and I really need you to be here as soon as possible.”

She sounded a lot more awake this time, and he could hear vague shuffling on the other end of the line. “What’s going on?”

“There’s these Ultra Beasts— dangerous Pokemon from another dimension— that are sort of rampaging and swarming Alola. There’s hundreds, if not a thousand. It’s like—like imagine what happened at Mt. Coronet, with Cyrus, except a bigger portal and way more of these things. They’re going to hurt people— I feel like they already have. How soon can you get here?”

A gasp, and then a pause on her end. “I can get a private jet to get me there in three hours. Hang tight, Ash. We’ll be there soon. I’ll bring all my strongest Pokemon.”

He nodded, even though she couldn’t see. “Thanks, Cynthia. We’re gonna need all the help we can get. See you then.”

As he slipped his phone into his pocket, he met Kukui’s eyes again. “Look, Professor, I know you probably have questions. Please, ask them later, after all this is over. I promise I’ll answer as best I can.”

They returned to the rest of the group, Ash looking expectantly at Professor Burnet. She looked up at him. “Hey, Ash. I’m still trying to find out more information, but I think I’m going to need to get closer to one of the Nihilego. From what I gather so far, something has drawn them out. It’s not like the other Ultra Beast attacks you’ve dealt with— they were provoked purposefully, and something is drawing them out. Some sort of energy, something they feed off of. It’s like— It’s like bait.”

Bait. Nihilego swarmed the wormhole like Venomoth to a flame. “What do you suggest we do?”

“Well, we need to get the Nihilego into Beast Balls— that’s the best way to incapacitate them. After we do that, then we can assess the situation and eventually send them back home.”

Ash nodded and was about to speak before she continued. “Ash, wait. These aren’t like some of the Ultra Beasts you’ve dealt with, or even like other Pokemon. Nihilego aren’t sentient. They can’t really think for themselves. I haven’t personally been the one to study them in depth, but I know they have a hive mind. They have one goal. They’re parasites. They suck off of whatever energy they can find— whether that’s from people or Pokemon or something else. They’re going to swarm people, and you saw what happened when Lusamine was absorbed by one—it sucked out her energy. It corrupted her emotions and thoughts. I predict they’ll do that to anyone they find— or any Pokemon. We’re going to have to be careful, and we need to protect everyone we can. Be vigilant. Be careful with your Pokemon.”

Ash nodded, taking it all in. Dread rose in him steadily. Before them loomed an almost impossible task (but since when did he let that stop him?). “We need to inform the citizens of Alola, somehow. We locked down the school. We need to lock down as many places as possible and make sure people stay inside. We need to figure out how to do that.”

An idea occurred to him, a memory resurfacing, but he didn’t voice that yet. “Okay, guys. So here are the things we need to do. We need to find a way to get everyone under lockdown and let everyone know what is going on. We need to get the Beast Balls from Aether Paradise, as many as possible. We need to split up into our groups and fight the Nihilego. We need to find out what is going on at Aether Paradise, though that doesn’t take priority. We also need to find the machine, or whatever it is, that’s keeping that portal open. We need to find out what the energy was and how to stop it— or if we can draw the Nihilego back in. Most importantly, we need to protect everyone.”

He took a deep breath, looking at everyone. Sophocles, Kiawe, Mallow, Lana. Lillie. Professor Burnet, and Professor Kukui. Pikachu silently supporting him from his shoulder, Riolu still clinging to his leg. “I know it’s a lot. This is huge. We need help. But we’re the best people to do this. We have some help coming, but that’s not until a few hours from now. What we _need_ is teamwork. If we work together, I _know_ we can do this!”

They smiled. Sophocles cheered. Lillie looked off, down on the beach, aimlessly, before her eyes sharpened and she ran to the railing. _Gladion_ was down there! He was with Silvally, and when she called out his name, his head snapped up to hers, before he broke into a run towards them.

He finally reached them, serious and concerned. “Lillie. Everyone. You saw what happened, right?”

They all nodded. Ash stepped forward. “We have a plan. We have stuff we need to do. Do you know anything about this?”

“Yeah. It has to do with Aether Paradise, for sure.”

“Can you reach them? No one could contact anyone from there— they were radio silent.”

Something entered Gladion’s eyes. Ash couldn’t tell what it was. “I didn’t try. But that’s not good. It’s suspicious. Clearly, something happened there. I’ll go check.”

Ash interjected. “Wait, before you do—we need to get Beast Balls from there. As many as possible. I think that someone should go with you.”

He narrowed his eyes, looking over the rest of Ash’s classmates, before looking back at Ash. “Who?”

“I will!” Sophocles raised his hand and stepped forward. “I think I can help figure out what’s going on and get some of the Beast Balls.”

Mallow stepped forward as well. “I will too! We’re gonna need help carrying all of them!”

Ash nodded. “Good. Okay. Okay. So, Lillie, can you come with me? We’re gonna fight the Nihilego, but also, I think I know a way to get the word out about what’s happening.”

Lillie nodded.

Kiawe spoke. “I’ve got some firepower. I’ll help take on the Ultra Beasts and protect people.”

“I’ll help you!” shouted Lana.

Kukui smiled. “That leaves me and Burnet. We’ll help protect and defend for now, and spread the word where we can. Burnet can study the Nihilego to find out more about what’s going on.”

Burnet nodded. “Yes, and if we can we’ll try to find the energy. I’m sure that if I’m able to trace it and find out what it is, I’ll be able to find it.”

“Awesome you guys. Okay, let’s get going. And remember, for those of us fighting the Ultra Beasts, we don’t have Beast Balls yet, so we’re not aiming to incapacitate too much. Don’t waste your energy. We’re here to defend and get them off of people. Once we get the balls we can start going more on the defensive. And, once we have more people, we need to get to the other islands. I’m hoping that if we can get word out quick enough, they’ll be more protected than Melemele.”

He paused to let it sink in, and got affirmations from everyone. “Okay. Let’s go—“

“Wait, Ash!”

He looked at Sophocles, who looked just a little startled by his own outburst. “I’ve been wondering, and you never told us. I know this is a bad time, but…I really need to know! What _was_ that, the other night, when we were fighting the really tough Ultra Beast? The blue energy you used? What _was_ it?”

Ash whitened. Oh. He’d forgotten that he didn’t tell them. He didn’t want to. He was visibly uncomfortable, shifting on his feet and fidgeting with his hands. “Umm, it’s uh— it’s called aura. It’s what all Lucario and,” he looked down at his blue Pokemon, now looking up at him, “Riolu have. It’s life energy, everyone has it, I just have more. It’s— umm, that’s all we have time for now. I’ll explain more later on, but—“ he looked around at everyone. He _hated_ being vulnerable like this. “I don’t really wanna go into too much detail about it. Now come on. Let’s _go.”_

Everyone started splitting off into their groups, and Lillie started after Ash. After a couple of moments, she asked “Where are we going, Ash? What was your idea on getting a broadcast out?”

He looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. He was jogging across the sand. “Some…friends of mine. They’ve done this before—getting out a broadcast to a large number of people when they needed to see it. I’m hoping they’ll be able to do it again.”

She was a little put off by his vague answer, but— she supposed everyone had their secrets and she’d find out soon enough. A certain weight settled on her shoulders when she thought guiltily of her mother. It was probably important for Ash to know, but she just didn’t want to— it felt disrespectful to Lusamine somehow, even though she wasn’t concerned with that, but— it was private.

Ten minutes later found them in the outdoor market. Ash headed straight to a malasada place. Since when was this the time for a snack? She was about to speak up about it before the people at the counter sprung up, looking concerned. They were going to spring into their normal customer service spiel when Ash spoke. “Guys. Have you seen what’s going on?”

The woman rolled her eyes for just a second before looking back at him. “Wow, straight to the pleasantries, huh?” She sighed. “Yes, we did.”

“Those weird beasts— they’re swarmin’ all over the place!”

Ash nodded gravely. “You guys— did you feel it? Meowth, did anything seem weird this morning for you? Like something awful was going to happen? Like someone messed with something they shouldn’t? Like— like what’s happened before?”

The Meowth narrowed his eyes and regarded the boy before him carefully. “Yeah, Twerp, I did.”

“Yeah. This is— this is one of those big things. We’re gonna have to save everyone. And I need you guys.”

“Need _us?_ Twerp, you’ve gotta be desperate already, and it’s still morning!”

The man, who’d been silent so far, spoke up. “What do you need us to do?”

His two teammates looked at him a little in surprise. No hesitation at all before helping the Twerp? Maybe this was serious. Ash leaned forward. “Do you guys remember what you did in Kalos? I need you to do that again. Ultra Beasts, especially Nihilego, are really dangerous. They’re going to attack and hurt people— and if that doesn’t matter to you, think of it this way. You guys could be sucked up into those things, and they could hurt potential _paying_ customers. I need to get a message out about what the Ultra Beasts are and ordering everyone to stay inside at all costs.”

“Twerp, how are we supposed to—?! You realize that we’re _retail_ workers, right? We’re not reporters for Malva like we were in Kalos. We don’t have access to that sort of—“

Ash’s eyebrows furrowed and he leaned forward. “Don’t _bullshit_ me. I _know_ you guys have access to tons of tech. Meowth, you’re smart. You can get a camera and hack into a news station, or find a journalist, or something. This is _important_ and I don’t have time for you guys to mess around.”

All the Team Rocket members pulled back slightly. They hadn’t seen this serious an Ash since Kalos at the least, and he hadn’t been this forward with them since they’d almost killed civilians with one of their failed plans. That night, he’d gone up to their camp with anger pulsing out of him, and he’d been cold and callous. (“You guys can’t fucking _do that!_ I get it, you’re criminals, and you try to steal all the time, and you’re not going to change. But there’s a _difference_ between thievery and _murder_ and you almost crossed that line today! You can’t _do that!”_

He’d turned away, crossing his arms. None of them had time to reply before he turned back with an even darker scowl. He walked until he was right in front of them, and for once, his lack of intimidating stature didn’t make him any less threatening. “You went _too fucking far_ today. If you ever— and I mean _ever—_ end the life of any person or Pokemon, whether on accident or on purpose, you will _regret_ it. My Pokemon can make you more than just blast off.” He took a step back. “ _Got_ it?”

They’d been terrified, and not a peep came out of them, only scared and vigorous nods. “Good.”)

Meowth nodded, his eyes wide. “Okay, Twerp, we’ll do it. We need to know more about the Ultra Beasts— tell us what you want to say. We’ll play the part and make sure the message gets out pronto.”

A small relieved smile made its way onto Ash’s face for a moment. “Good.” He explained a little more about the Ultra Beasts, and what he wanted them to say before they exchanged nods and Ash dragged Lillie away. After a second, she broke out of her confusion and turned to him. “I’m sorry, Ash, _what_ was that? Who are those people and why did you talk to them like that? They’re just food workers!”

He shook his head. “No, it’s— in Alola, that’s what they are most of the time, but they’re not always like that. That’s Team Rocket. You know— they’re bad guys who steal Pokemon, but they’re more than that. They’ve followed me for over six years and when the going gets tough, they’re always there to help save the world. They’re— uh…this might be a little weird, but— they’re the ones who reported on the Kalos Crisis all over the world. It saved lives. I need to depend on them for this. They’ll pull through.”

Pikachu affirmed this with an exclamation of his own, to which Ash nodded again. Lillie had questions— for sure, she had questions, but they didn’t have time for it right then. It had to wait until later. “Okay, Ash, I trust you. What do we do now?”

He looked off into the distance, where Nihilego were swarming the streets and flying through the air. He looked back at her.

“Now, we fight.”

-.-.-.-.-

“Uh…Gladion, are you sure that we shouldn’t take more precautions going to Aether Paradise? We don’t really know what’s happening there, what if— what if something bad happened?”

He looked back at the young boy. “We need to go as quickly as possible. I need to get Hobbes so he can get a jet to Aether for us…oh, what was his number again? I should remember this…”

After a moment or two when he still couldn’t remember, Mallow went up to Professor Kukui, who still lingered with Burnet to finish what she was recording. “Professor, do you know Lillie’s butler’s number? We need to call him.”

He nodded. “Yes, I do, give me a minute.”

He called the butler and put Mallow on the line, who asked for the private jet. “Gladion is asking! And please hurry! We need it as soon as possible!”

The butler said he’d be there within half an hour or less with everything prepared. Gladion waited nervously, as did his teammates. He was uncomfortable with them— he would’ve much rather worked alone anyways, but if he had to work with someone, he’d prefer it someone he actually knew— Lillie, or even Ash. Still, though, he had to do this for the sake of Alola.

He had the sneaking suspicion that Lusamine had caused all of this. She had to, right? She’d been so angry (he thought, with a touch of lingering fear) and that definitely would have provoked her into doing something big. But this? This would’ve had to take planning.

The Ultra Beast attacks. They weren’t random or accidental.

She’d been experimenting.

Shit.

She’d always loved the Nihilego the most, and the way she’d been in Ultra Space— awful. He’d hated it. It’d reminded him all over again of why he’d run away.

But Lusamine had nothing left to lose.

He needed to get to Aether Paradise to figure it out. He needed to find Lusamine, or at least Faba, or someone.

The jet was here.

Hobbes stepped out. “Hello, Master Gladion. Hello, children. Come in.”

They anxiously waited on the ride there. Gladion tried to ignore the younger boy (Sopho…something?) chattering about whatever, or the girl chiming in occasionally. He needed to find out what was going on.

Finally, finally, they landed on the artificial island. Hobbes stayed on the jet, and Gladion, the boy, and the girl walked off. They were at the doors. They were unlocked (which wouldn’t be weird normally, but considering all the staff were radio silent, it felt off). He pushed open the doors, and the scene inside gave him chills. 

All the lights were off. It was eerily silent. Even the normally bright and cheery entrance room to Aether Paradise seemed as dark and creepy as those deep halls where Lillie had been snatched by a Nihilego not once but _twice._

“Where is everyone?” the boy asked.

No one responded. They walked the halls cautiously, keeping an eye out for anyone, but there were no signs of life. They got into the next room, creeping forward. before he suddenly stepped back and the girl let out an eep.

There was a Nihilego. It was there, almost _patrolling_ the halls. Like a guard. Could they even do that? The words _hive mind_ echoed through his head. The gelatinous white creature floated eerily by, slowly, searching. It bobbed in the air and when it got a little closer, Gladion could feel the air grow colder. It seemed drawn to them, for even though they tried to hide, it started drifting towards them. Everything was silent, quiet, as they tried to stay hidden, as it got closer and closer, before Gladion realized. They couldn’t throw it off. It was going to keep coming for them until it absorbed them. He couldn’t let that happen.

He jumped up, suddenly, sending Silvally out of its ball. The Nihilego went from passively drifting closer to on the hunt and vicious in a second. It let out an eerie cry, the sound like rusty spoons clattering on an old tile floor mixed with a strange melodic bird sound. It grated on his ears, and the shriek was all the warning he got before it swooped in predatorily, quick and silent, straight towards Gladion (it looked just like when he’d thrown himself in front of Lillie before Lusamine threw herself in front of him.) Silvally growled and rushed forward, blocking the Nihilego from attacking its trainer, and Gladion was thankful. He had the Pokemon _designed_ to combat Nihilego, after all, and he didn’t even need to send out any other Pokemon to battle it.

But then…this one seemed smarter than he remembered. (Were they evolving? After all, Lusamine had wanted to be absorbed into the Nihilego partly to understand it. The Nihilego had absorbed her not only to leech off her energy but to understand _humans._ If they really shared a hive mind and were attacking and absorbing humans all over Alola, just how much had they learned so far? How much were they _going_ to learn?)

It let out another shriek and swooped towards Mallow, who couldn’t react with much more than a scream. She couldn’t even register enough to run— all she did was freeze up before the thing was touching her skin, its tentacles rubbing over her with cold slime, almost electric in the way it raised her arm hairs. It was…savoring the human contact, for just a moment, before it tried to swallow her. Silvally sprung into action, trying to tackle the Ultra Beast, but it jerked back, dragging Mallow’s arms along with it. There was a look of white-stricken terror on her face and she couldn’t speak. She could barely struggle. “Get _off_ of her!” the younger boy yelled, rushing towards his friend.

“Wait, don’t—“ Gladion’s cry of warning was too late, for the Nihilego turned its sights on him, pouncing upon him before his head was absorbed. He _did_ scream, Gladion could see through the semi-transparency of the Nihilego, but it was almost silent and distorted. It sounded more like a gurgle. Silvally assaulted the Symbiont but this time it managed to land a hit, biting down on it (though there wasn’t much solid to bite into). The Nihilego recoiled suddenly, letting go of Sophocles, and retreating until they couldn’t see it anymore. Gladion hoped it wasn’t going to alert the others (because there must be more here, right?)

The boy was on the ground, his skin pale and his eyes blown wide. He wouldn’t move or talk. He looked terrified. His hands spasmed for a second. “Sophocles! Sophocles, oh my gosh, are you alright? Please, say something!”

He remained unresponsive for another moment before he turned to look at her. He could barely form a response, but Gladion noted with some relief that his almost-catatonic state seemed to be from fear rather than any physical damage left by the Nihilego. He left them there for a moment while he turned to peak around the corner, leaving Silvally out of its ball. Hopefully, with its presence there, the Nihilego would sense it and be repelled. He hoped so. Those kids couldn’t handle much more— Nihilego weren’t like other Ultra Beasts. They were much more cold, terrifying. They weren’t like Pokemon, didn’t think like them. They had no empathy, no feeling. Only their search for energy (and their desire to learn more about humans. Because while there wasn’t much of a brain to start, they could learn. Evolve.)

He returned to the boy and the girl. (He knew their names, now. Mallow. Sophocles.) Mallow looked up at him. “Look, sorry to not give you more time, but we need to keep going. I’m hoping we won’t face any more head on, but if we do, now we know how to deal with it. Can he stand?” he asked, looking at the boy who was no longer laying down, but leaning on Mallow. She nodded.

She helped him up and they continued through the eerie halls of Aether. (He would think, that, with the natural light they always let in, there would be a more bright and open feeling, but now the halls just felt too big and too empty. They were supposed to be full. It was— forlorn— not just empty, but hyper-empty, as though there was not just no one when there should be, but there was a negative population. Their absence was so conspicuous it glowed like neon signs. Where _was_ everyone?

“Let’s keep going.”

The halls were long and empty, still, and dark. He made his way to Lusamine’s office— maybe that would give them more information. There was a large chamber that opened up before the hall resumed, and he stopped right before he entered it, pushing his two companions back. Before they could question, he whipped around and silenced them. Whispering, he commanded “Be _quiet!_ There’s gotta be at least 5 Nihilego in that chamber and we cannot attract them to us! That’s too many to fight!”

Sophocles looked the most scared, while Mallow questioned. “What do we do, then?”

“Let me send out Silvally to fight them. It’s made to fight these things.”

She nodded. Silvally stepped into the room, and the second it did, all the Nihilego, though they didn’t have faces, were trained on it. After a second of hesitation, they all attacked at once, and Gladion cringed to think what would have happened if it had been them in Silvally’s place. His Pokemon partner attacked all of them without a problem, and though they ganged up on it, Silvally subdued all of them until they either floated deeper into Aether or opened a wormhole and retreated back into their own dimension, and that gave Gladion the idea. It might just be possible— if they could drive the Nihilego to open their own wormholes and return to Ultra Space of their own volition, it would make their fight a lot easier. All they needed to do was remove what was binding them to Earth…

If only he could figure out what that was.

They were almost to Lusamine’s office. Almost there. There had to be _something,_ right? He had to figure this whole thing out. She must have been the cause of it, right? (Then if there was nothing in the office, he had to go to the home. He tried to ignore the spike of fear that jabbed at his heart as he remembered the events of the night before.)

Finally, finally, they reached the double doors of her office and pushed them open. They were unlocked and slightly ajar, and it was creepy. Everything here was creepy and dissonant and wrong. This wasn’t the cheery Aether Paradise of his childhood or even the cold but fascinating place of recent years. No, this was all different. It was all wrong.

The office was empty. No one was there, but…someone had been. Recently. The chair wasn’t pushed in, and there were papers strewn about on the desk. Whoever had left— presumably Lusamine— had left in a hurry. Her computer was on the screensaver, but not off. While Sophocles and Mallow stood to the side, he sat down in the chair and pulled himself up to the computer. He didn’t even need to type in a password— whoever had been here hadn’t left all that long ago. The desktop was perfectly arranged, all the folders symmetrically placed in perfect lines, and Gladion had to scoff for a moment. Wasn’t that _just_ like her? Everything had to be perfect, nothing out of place, even by just a centimeter.

There was a red notification blinking on the screen, unread. Gladion clicked on it. “STOP”, it read. “URGENT! This is DANGEROUS, Lusamine. Don’t let them out. There are too many. It will wreak destruction on Alola.”

Gladion checked the sender. It was Faba. There was another. “The Nihilego are HERE in Aether. Something’s drawn them here. There’s too many, Lusamine. This needs to stop.”

There was one more from him. “Lusamine! Aether is taken over. WE are leaving, going somewhere safe. Do the same, now, for your own good. If you can, STOP all this. I may have supported this idea before, but not now.”

Chills ran down Gladion’s spine. There was one from Wicke. It was a little older, from earlier in the morning. “President Lusamine! Faba informed me of your experiment, and although I support studying the Ultra Beasts, this goes beyond proper ethics! It could hurt many, upsetting the natural order, not to mention the other local Pokemon which will be affected! You must stop this. Do not proceed.”

They were unread by Lusamine (or maybe she’d read them in passing, but hadn’t cared, because she’d done it anyway. And that was enough evidence for him that she was the cause of this (but how had she done it? What had she done?)

Mallow and Sophocles looked at the messages as well. “You think Lusamine did this?” she asked him.

He looked at her. “Yes. It is clear, especially from this correspondence.”

Maybe it was because he already knew, or maybe the children just had too much blind faith in her, but they didn’t look convinced. “But…Lusamine wouldn’t do all this. Maybe it was an accident! It seems like she was experimenting with something she maybe shouldn’t have, but that doesn’t make her evil!”

He’d once been the woman’s _son,_ and he believed her more capable of evil than children who didn’t even know her that well. He brushed her off. “We need to find the Beast Balls now. They should be in the storage room. That’s nearby. Follow me.”

They walked quietly down the halls, and awkwardness between them now. Gladion kept Silvally out of the Pokeball, in case there were any more Nihilego, but they didn’t see any on the way to the storage room. That was unlocked too, and while Gladion showed them where they were and they started collecting as many as they could, he couldn’t help but wonder. Where had everyone gone? They’d gone somewhere safe, but…did they have a safe house? Was there somewhere underground? He’d never known about anything like that.

Mallow and Sophocles came out holding as many as they could, Beast Balls stuffed into their bags, in their arms, and even a couple Pokemon were out and holding some. Gladion helped, too. Because they were going to need as many as possible to get rid of the Nihilego, at least while they were figuring out what anchored them to this dimension.

“Alright, everyone ready? Let’s get back as quick as we can. I’ve got a bad feeling about here and we need to help everyone else.”

They hurried back through the halls of Aether Paradise, Silvally leading and watching for any Nihilego. There were a couple of times where a Nihilego drew close before retreating when it sensed Silvally, and everyone was relieved that they didn’t have to engage with any more. Soon, they were back at the entrance to Aether, and they ran out of the doors to the jet still waiting. Hobbes flew them back to Melemele, all of them anxious in their seats.

-.-.-.-.-

“Can you track the Nihilego?”

She looked up at him from her still-crouching position on the ground. “Well, the tracker I’ve got isn’t in great shape, but it should be able to give us a general idea. It’s the best we’ve got.”

He nodded. “Okay, then let’s go.”

Professor Kukui helped Burnet to her feet as she packed up her equipment into her bag. “We’d better be prepared. The Nihilego might be a challenge to fight.”

Kukui nodded. “Some of the kids talked about how hard it was to fight— that it took all of them to fight just Lusamine in the Nihilego. I hope that, now that they’re on Earth and not Ultra Space, they won’t be getting any extra boosts.”

Burnet jogged alongside him, looking at her tracker. “I guess we’ll have to see. Come on, this way, I’ve got an eye on some.”

It seemed the Nihilego were sticking to busy centers, which didn’t bode well for the citizens of Alola. He hoped Ash and Lillie could be successful in a way to get everyone safe and informed. They got to a busier part of the boardwalk and there were three Nihilego. Thankfully, there weren’t too many people out— it was still relatively early, not midmorning yet— but the few people that were out were hiding, terrified, from the Ultra Beasts drifting menacingly through the area.

Professor Kukui looked at Burnet and they shared a nod. Kukui sent out his Lucario and Incineroar— he would send out more if need be. Professor Burnet sent out her Munchlax and shifted into a battle stance. At the sudden presence of new lifeforms, the three Nihilego trained their (lack of) eyes on the Professors. “Okay, Kukui, so listen to me. They don’t respond well to physical attacks— their forms are too gelatinous, so stick to special and type attacks.”

He nodded and ordered a Dragon Pulse from Lucario and Flare Blitz from Incineroar. He was starting off strong, not taking any chances. Munchlax attacked with a Whirlwind. The Nihilego sprung into action, screeching an unholy shriek before they attacked, and Kukui had to fight his impulse to protect his ears. He heard the faint shudders of a couple of passersby and shouted to them to flee. “Stay inside! Tell everyone you know! These are dangerous and there are many of them! Get to safety, and _please,_ don’t engage!”

He hoped they heeded his instructions. His attention was forced back into the battle when an Acid and Toxic Spikes attack came from the Nihilego. His Incineroar twisted and turned, dodging attacks and throwing his own, while Lucario settled for more long-range assault. Burnet’s Munchlax struggled to not use physical attacks, but she was trying her best. As the tentacled creatures started to surround them, both Professors were forced back to back as their Pokemon fought, but they got into a rhythm as they fought to incapacitate the three (there were more coming, too, the battle drawing a commotion).

“Burnet? I didn’t get the chance to talk to you about this today, but we need to. I think this was Lusamine.”

She risked a look back at him. “You think Lusamine did _all this?_ On _purpose?_ Or on accident?”

A pause. “I’m not sure yet, but I’m not willing to rule out the possibility of it being intentional. Everything that other night seemed too weird— almost manufactured, even though it doesn’t make much sense.”

Professor Burnet was silent for a second, before she prompted. “I’m listening.”

“She wanted Ash’s aura and she used it on Nebby to open a wormhole. She _wanted_ to get in that Nihilego, I know it. There was something off about her, this toxic pleasure, even though I only saw the aftereffects. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t natural.”

There was another, longer pause. “Hm. You know, after that happened, she came up to me at work. She asked about Ash’s new Z move, the 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt. She did it under the guise of curiosity alone, but it was more than that. There was some sort of almost… _desperation_ in her eyes, and if it was curiosity, it was a damn dangerous type of curiosity. I didn’t like it one bit. I didn’t like it because she looked like she did the other times she was with Ash, sometimes. I don’t trust that woman around him.”

This gave Professor Kukui a shock. Yes, he knew that Burnet didn’t like her boss, that she didn’t trust her, but she was expressing worry about Ash, too, and—

“I don’t either. This morning, Ash was really weird, off. He was nervous about something big. He didn’t want to open up about it, but he said he _knew_ something big was going to happen. I asked if it was Lusamine. He didn’t deny it. I think he believes her capable of something like this.”

Burnet was quiet. Kukui continued. “Also, I just think she isn’t a good person— period. I know it when I see it— that woman mistreated Lillie— and Gladion— at the very _least,_ if not something more, and I’m worried about Lillie. Something happened between her and her mom, and it isn’t my business to know unless it caused her active harm— then, as her teacher, and someone who cares about her, I need to know then.”

The original Nihilego had been incapacitated, and their lifeless forms were either strewn across the ground or they’d retreated. There were 4 more they were fighting, and they made steady progress, although their Pokemon were starting to tire.

“Yeah. I don’t believe for a second that at this point Lusamine should be a mother— she’s not a very— caring person, that’s for sure.”

Kukui nodded. “And—another thing—I’m worried about what this all means for Ash. He’s told me about the things he’s had to fight— and you know some of it, too. He’s had to save the world over and over again, and no child should ever have to do it even once! It makes me so _angry_ to see these children forced to grow up, forced to shoulder more responsibility than most adults will ever have to face! I _know_ Ash has done it before. I _know_ he’s more than fully capable, but, Burnet, he knows the fucking _Champions!_ He knows Lance and Cynthia enough to _call them on his personal phone._ He knows them enough to joke and _insult_ them— do you know how scary that is? How many implications that carries? Because on the phone, he sure seemed like he’d done this whole thing with _them_ before, too— he mentioned other regions, and the times he apparently worked to save the world _with them!_ It isn’t _normal!_ I’m _scared_ for him, Burnet! He’s just a _kid!”_

All the Nihilego were defeated, now, and none more came. It was eerily silent, the atmosphere no longer plagued with their horrible banshee screams. Their Pokemon were panting, laying on the floor, and Kukui returned them to their Pokeballs, congratulating them on a job well done. He stared at the ground, fighting the tears filling his eyes. Shit, he should’ve gotten more sleep last night. He’d stayed up until 3 am.

Burnet sunk down next to him, sitting on the ground, and leaning on him silently. It took a couple of minutes before she sensed he was ready to hear her talk. “Hey, Kukui. I know this sucks, and I agree with you, I do, but Ash is a strong kid. He shouldn’t have to be, but he is, and you know what that means? I’m _so_ proud of him. I know _you’re_ so proud of him— you’re practically his dad now, and don’t try to deny it. And when all of this is over, we’re gonna sit him down and force him to hug it out with us, alright? Nothing is okay right now, and it’s not okay, but we can be. We have to be strong right now, for everyone, so that later we can all relax in a still peaceful Alola. We have to push through this, and I know we can do this together. You can therapize your students all you want when life is back to normal— but for now, we have to take a breath, pull ourselves together, and go kick some Nihilego ass, got it?”

Despite himself, Professor Kukui smiled. She stood up and he took the hand she offered, letting her help pull him up. “You’re right. Let’s go kick some Nihilego ass!”

She smiled. “ _That’s_ the man I love right there.”

They traveled to the next center for Nihilego that she could track. They were gathering in groups, rather than all spread out, which made it both easier and harder to apprehend them—easier, because they had to do less chasing, but harder, because they were more outnumbered in the fights. It took a couple of minutes to jog to the next center, and as they got closer, there were screams, and they knew they were there before they even looked to check.

On arrival, there were a large number of Nihilego as well as a large number of people, running and hiding. Some were surrounded, and two of them had Pokemon out and were fighting. Professor Kukui winced— this wasn’t good— before springing into action. “Everyone!” he began, with a theatrical sweep of his arm, “you need to leave! Do not engage with them! They are dangerous! Stay inside at all costs and spread the word!”

At his words, much of the cowering crowd ran when they saw the pair coming to their rescue. Some remained, and the two trainers battling didn’t give much of a glance before going back to fighting (and the _horrible_ noises the Nihilego made—!)

Burnet turned to Kukui. “We might as well take advantage of the people who are helping to fight— I think we’re going to need it.”

The man nodded and sent out his Pokemon— with Braviary too, this time, and drew the attention of some of the Nihilego swarming the others. It wasn’t fast enough, though, because one pounced onto the unsuspecting man and they barely even heard a scream before he was _swallowed_ by the Ultra Beasts. It sent shivers up Kukui’s spine, as the Nihilego changed in tint, somehow growing more vibrant and alive, and he knew. It was sucking the man’s energy. His face, originally twisted into a terrified scream, was now contorted into a blank smile, his empty eyes reflecting Lusamine’s. He spoke, and another voice joined his own, as if the Nihilego were talking as well. His words had the odd quality of an echo within it. It reverberated around the area.

As the Parasite advanced towards Kukui, the man’s pallor darkened and reversed, his skin turning sickly green and his blond hair turning black. “ _Leave this place!”_ He demanded, giving a voice to the Symbiont. Burnet turned, panicked, to Kukui, and he nodded. “Lucario, free the man! Focus on his safety, and only attack where it will not hurt him!”

Although the Dragon Pulse hit, the Parasite moved to the side before attacking with its tentacles, swatting Lucario aside. “ _Leave us alone! Let us play in this new world_!”

And that gave Kukui a deep sense of dread as chills went down his spine, rooting him to the spot for a moment. Burnet looked at him, and she voiced his thoughts. “He’s expressing the hive mind— he keeps saying _us_. I don’t like the implications this carries.”

She ordered Munchlax to attack, as did Kukui order his own Pokemon, and while they defeated the other Nihilego more easily now that they were used to it, the Parasite was a challenge. The man grinned, looking almost like a child, and he constantly had to push through his own terror and dread to even speak. Was this what the children had to face when fighting Lusamine?

_Oh._ No. It was worse. because Lusamine was their _mother._

_How_ was Lillie as okay as she was? How was Ash? How were any of his students?

How were they holding up now?

The Parasite’s tentacles wrapped around Burnet for just a second, a terrifying second, where everything slowed down, and he made eye contact with her. There was something in her eyes. It was deep, and vulnerable, and rooted him to the spot. He couldn’t do anything.

…

Her Munchlax _chomped_ down on the tentacle wrapped around Burnet and the Parasite let go with a banshee shriek (and, Kukui realized, with no small measure of discomfort, the man screamed as well). She was released. She was okay. Kukui wanted to throw up, because he had done nothing, and if it had _hurt her!_

He felt useless. Finally, after all of their Pokemon were renewed with anger, the Parasite was defeated and the man fell to the ground, barely conscious. They helped him, and, as he sat there shaking, he looked to her. “I’m so _sorry._ I just _stood_ there, I couldn’t do anything, and—!”

She shook her head. “No, Kukui, I’m okay. It is not your fault. We’re going to have to keep handling these, and maybe we _will_ be absorbed. We have to be prepared, okay?”

His hands shook, and he wanted to cry, but he nodded. Breathe in, breathe out. Fight now. Fight now, worry later. Deal with emotions later.

He could do this. They could— they _would_ all do this, because they had to. Because the fate of Alola rested on their shoulders.

-.-.-.-.-

His Charizard came out of his ball with a red flash and a fighting stance, though relaxed once he saw there was no immediate threat. He looked to Kiawe with a questioning look. “Hey, Charizard, we need to fly. You up for that?”

He growled in affirmation. “Alright.” He looked to the girl beside him. “Lana, you’re going to need to ride with me. You good with that?”

She nodded a little nervously. “Wait, where are we going?”

“Hau’oli City. It’s the most populated place on Melemele, and I bet the Nihilego are having a field day. We need to do all that we can over there to help protect people.”

She nodded again, this time with more understanding. “Okay. I think I’m ready. Tell Charizard to be careful while flying! I’m not _scared,_ but…”

He looked at her a little teasingly, a little exasperatedly, and looked to Charizard, who nodded in understanding. “He’ll try his best.”

They boarded the dragon and Lana could feel the warmth of his skin, not burning but hot against her skin. As soon as she was settled, he took off into the sky with a beat of his wings. The wind rushed through her hair and she tried not to look at the ground. She wasn’t the…biggest fan of heights, but she wasn’t scared of them. She had to get used to it, regardless, because this wasn’t something she could skip out on— Alola was in danger. (She pushed aside her fear and confusion about this whole thing. She was all for adventure but this was a new level. It had reached a new level when they’d gone into Ultra Space. Then, to focus on their mission, she’d repeated the mantra in her head— adventure, adventure, adventure. This is fun. This is cool. Adventure. She had to do the same thing now.) Lana squeezed her eyes shut for just a second, trying to force any doubts out of her mind.

She opened them back up and gasped. They were flying high in the sky now, and it was beautiful. The sky was blue and the clouds were fluffy and the ocean glittered in the sunlight. It would have been perfect except for the Nihilego she could see gathered on the ground, scattered across the streets and the island. She could see them swarming in the sky, still, and the one thing that gave her relief was that there were no more pouring out of the wormhole. Still, though. In the distance, she could see them traveling to other islands, across the sea. Kiawe spoke. “Once we get those Beast Balls, I’m going to fly to Akala and do all that I can to help there. I’m worried for Mimo, for the farm and…”

Lana leaned against him. “Hey, everything will be okay. Take things one step at a time, right? Trust everyone to do their part. I bet Mallow and Sophocles already have the Beast Balls now and are coming back with them! Let’s do our part, and let’s do our best. Alola’s counting on us!”

He smiled, though she couldn’t see it, as he turned to the front again. “We’re almost here. Get your Pokemon ready, there’s gonna be a fight— do you see down there? That’s a lot of Nihilego.”

She looked down (and ignored the churning in her stomach) where he’d indicated and…wow. The white Frillish-looking Pokemon were gathered in large numbers. She couldn’t see any people, not from this high, but they swept the streets as if on the prowl. It sent chills down her spine. They were clustered every half mile or so in the squares. She hoped no one had been taken like Lusamine…

Adventure. Adventure, adventure, adventure. This is fun. She was brave. They were the heroes. The Ultra Guardians! Sure, they didn’t have their uniforms or ride Pokemon right now, and they didn’t have Lusamine, and there were _so many Nihilego,_ but it was okay. They were the experts on these (if they were the experts and she still felt like this, what did everyone else feel like?)

They landed and she tensed tightly as they descended. Kiawe hopped off and gave her his hand as he followed. “You ready?”

She nodded determinedly. Yes. She was. She had to be. 

Lana released her Popplio and Eevee, while Kiawe released Turtonator to join Charizard. “Okay, everyone,” she started. “We’re about to go into battle with some Nihilego— those are Ultra Beasts. Our goal is not to completely defeat them, since this isn’t a normal battle. What we’re doing is protecting people and getting them to flee or faint, if we have to. Don’t use too much of your energy— we’ve got a lot to take out, and a long way to go. Does everyone understand?”

There was a chorus of cries of agreement, both from hers and Kiawe’s Pokemon. “Okay then, let’s go.” 

Together they ran to the nearest center, where they could hear the commotion of Nihilego and people. There some screams and sounds of confusion and fright. The two humans looked at each other before running faster. When they turned the corner, Lana had to stop her immediate reaction of freezing in fright— she’d forgotten how intimidating and freaky they were up close. There were several of them, and there were some people. A man and what looked like his daughter were both engaged in a battle with the Nihilego, and 3 of them were surrounding the pair while the other two were moving slowly towards the several people that were hiding or running away. Through the glass windows of shops, they could see people hiding inside. “Everyone!” Kiawe shouted, and both the humans and Nihilego turned abruptly toward him. “Don’t hide here! Run, and stay inside at all costs! Don’t fight these Ultra Beasts. Tell your friends! We’ll take care of these!”

At his words, many people heeded his warning and ran, but those who were inside remained inside, and the daughter and father barely registered it, too caught up in battle. Lana and Kiawe ran up to the pair. “Are you guys going to keep fighting?”

They nodded. “Okay, then listen. Don’t try to completely defeat them, there’s too many to waste your energy and they’ll just come back. Just do it enough so they run away and we’ll help. Be careful, these are called Nihilego, and they feed on energy. They can absorb you, which doesn’t kill, but it’s very dangerous. As soon as you can, get to safety, alright?”

They nodded. The father subconsciously moved closer to his daughter at the word “absorb.” The Nihilego, seemingly having spent enough time appraising the new threat, shrieked a horrible cry and went on the offensive, new ones surrounding them, so the four humans were now surrounded by six of the beasts. “Popplio, Bubble Beam! Sandy, Double Edge!”

Popplio sprung into action, iridescent bubbles shining rainbow in the sunlight hitting two of the Nihilego. Sandy’s Double Edge morphed into white blades of energy that hit two more Nihilego. As they attacked back with Acid, Kiawe’s Charizard and Turtonator shot flames. The girl’s Rowlet used a Leafage and the man’s Ninetails shot ice.

They dodged the purple sizing poison and winced as it corroded the ground it hit. “Lana, let’s do a combo move!”

She looked at him, immediately knowing what he was talking about. They’d been practicing when they had time at school, interested if fire and water could really work together. Ash had excitedly gestured about the battle he’d had with Misty and how electricity and water had melded and connected. They wanted to try the same with water and fire, two opposite elements. “Alright, Popplio, Bubble Beam! Try to make one giant one!”

Her Popplio focused her water energy, making the deceivingly strong bubbles meld into one, growing bigger and bigger until it was a sphere of water that shined rainbow. It encased one of the Nihilego and she called Kiawe’s name. He ordered Turtonator to use a Flamethrower and the thinner-than-normal flames twisted around the bubble, spreading and branching like a Blast Burn on the ground, orange against blue like freshly fallen raindrops running down leaves. The Nihilego’s cry was muffled, bubbled in the water, and distorted. It made her cringe.

It struggled to send out poison, but the purple couldn’t get past the water, instead blending and bleeding, turning the pure blue into a darker violet. The man’s Ninetails froze the ball until the Nihilego was encased in a purple frosted snow globe. It glowed, for a brief second, before crashing onto the ground. The ice shattered and exploded, raining snowflakes that caught in Lana’s hair. The Nihilego, once free, retreated quickly, opening its own wormhole and entering it. It made a cry, as though communicating with its team, and two others joined it.

The girl suddenly shouted. “That. Was. So. _Cool!”_

Lana and Kiawe allowed themselves small smiles. “Yeah, it was, wasn’t it?”

They resumed the fight. At one point Charizard got into an air battle with the Nihilego, both fighting for dominance before the dragon’s powered-up Flamethrower sent it fleeing into the sky.

Lana was distracted. She shouldn’t have been. She was too cocky, because although she was tired, she got overconfident. She wished she hadn’t. She looked away for a second too long, until suddenly she heard a shriek in her ear, felt sticky and ice-cold tentacles on her skin, and could barely scream before she was _pulled_ into the body of the Nihilego.

It was awful. It was terrifying. She could hear the cries in her head, now, and she tried to scream, but she couldn’t, and she was only aware for a second as Kiawe and her Pokemon called for her before _something_ happened to her. It was sharp. It felt like a shot, and although her movements were sluggish in the blubber of the gummy creature, she could see that something had pierced her skin and it was purple and inflamed at the injection site.

Ah, she remembered, perhaps a moment too late. Burnet had mentioned _neurotoxins._ The Nihilego had drugs. It was what made Lusamine the way that she’d been. She felt herself losing control of her own identity, and though she tried to hold on, tried to fight, the intrusive thoughts of the Nihilego took hold and overwhelmed her.

Kiawe stood stock still, terrified for Lana, too afraid to attack her. She looked horrified. The Nihilego holding her _morphed,_ getting bigger, more purple and black, as Lana’s blue hair and eyes turned a black so dark it seemed to _absorb_ the light around them. It was _so cold,_ suddenly. After a moment of silent stillness, the Parasite turned towards him. “ _Leave us alone!”_ it started, Lana’s distorted voice joined with another’s. “ _Let us discover this beautiful world.”_

It sent prickly chills down his spine and fear bubbled hot in his gut. His throat closed up for just a second, before Charizard growled to him, and he snapped out of his trance. He had to save Lana. He had to do this. The little girl was terrified, and he called to the pair. “Take care of the other Nihilego! I’ll deal with her!” 

They nodded silently and vigorously, their whitened faces reflecting their fear. He turned back to the Parasite, ignoring how unnerving this all was, and stared into Lana’s black eyes. “Lana, please! Try to remember! You love water, and water Pokemon, and being with your friends, and training! You’re an awesome friend!”

The Parasite sprung forward with its tentacles and Turtonator defended with a torrent of flames. “ _We hate you! You’re not a friend! You’re awful! Leave us alone!”_

His heart hurt. He knew it wasn’t real, that much was clear, and he was able to ignore that pretty easily since she kept saying _us_ instead of _me._ But his heart hurt for her, and what it must feel like. It must have hurt, right?

He didn’t want to go on the attack, only the defense, but he had to get through to Lana. “Lana, this is not you! You’re better than this! Remember what you truly care about! Remember your friends, and remember how _scary_ Lusamine was! You don’t want to be like _her,_ do you?”

At his mention of Lusamine, she paused— he could tell that something had changed within her, but more than that, something changed within both Nihilego that were still fighting. They both turned to Kiawe, enraptured and expectant, when he mentioned Lusamine.

Why?

The Parasite’s tentacles wrapped around him as he looked at the other, and he was surprised at just how ice-cold it all was. It was slimy and sticky and rubbery and he involuntarily screamed, and then the Parasite stilled. It stilled, and he looked into Lana’s still-black eyes, and noticed the way they cleared. It was _her,_ there was life in her expression, and though she wasn’t entirely free, she was still in there. “Lana! That’s it, remember everything! Remember what you love most! Remember the beauty of water, how it can be used for healing and gives life! Remember Popplio, Sandy, and all your Pokemon! Remember!”

The Parasite’s tentacles grew limp and slid off of him. It was still. The voice came out, but it wasn’t as tainted, and… “ _I…_ I remember. Kiawe, help me!”

She reached her arm out desperately, and it barely poked through the thick jelly making up the blubber, but he grabbed her hand and _pulled,_ as hard as he could. Charizard grabbed him and took to the air until the Nihilego was forced to either let her go or be dragged around, and it let go. She came out of its body with a sick _squelch,_ thick and nauseating. She was dripping and covered with goo, and though her coloring was back to normal, she was sheet-white and choking. He held her tight, hugging her, as did her Pokemon, before her choking turned into crying. “Oh my _gosh,_ that was awful. I can’t…I…it was _in my head._ I couldn’t get it out! I couldn’t even tell what I was doing, but then we were grabbing you, and you screamed, and that brought me out of it, and… _oh my gosh._ Oh my gosh. Oh my _Arceus,_ Kiawe, that was the most _fucking_ terrifying thing that’s ever happened to me!”

Her tears were running into his shirt and he looked to see the father and daughter defeat the final Nihilego. They stood, awkwardly, to the side, though the girl looked just a little like Lana, horrified and scared. “Get inside! Don’t fight anymore! It’s too dangerous!”

The man nodded vigorously, picking his daughter up and running away.

“Hey, hey, Lana. I…can’t pretend I know what that felt like. It was awful, and I am so sorry. But we— we need to do more, and…can you handle that?”

She finally pulled away and looked to him, though her gaze wasn’t on him but past him. She wasn’t all there. She was still pale, and she started to shake her head no, for just a moment, before she made eye contact with her Pokemon. Something in her, then, focused, until she turned and _looked_ at Kiawe, finally, and nodded her head. She stood up, a little shakily, and stared off toward the beach. “Yes. I have to be ready for this. And maybe this isn’t a fun adventure you’d read about in storybooks, but we _have to do this.”_

He looked unsure, before nodding. “Good, because there’s some Nihilego on the beach attacking people, do you see them?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

They ran to the sand, and then into the fray. There were little kids cowering behind sandcastles and others fleeing. Others still just stood there, not knowing what to do, while a couple of trainers had out Pokemon and were fending off the Nihilego. Lana warned everyone, repeating Kiawe’s speech from earlier. Run. Hide. Stay inside. Tell your friends. If you want to fight, fight with us.

When the Nihilego turned its faceless gaze onto Lana, she tensed and withdrew for just a second. She could still feel the squishy slime ice-cold and the whispers in her head and the toxins injected into her wrist (at that thought, she looked down at it. It was swollen and purple. She hoped it wasn’t poison.)

She ignored the fear, though, because that wasn’t something they could deal with right now. Three men stayed to battle with them while everyone else ran. One looked at them with no small amount of trepidation and questioned “Why are _kids_ the ones to deal with these monsters?”

Even though he probably meant well, it raised Kiawe’s hackles all the same. “We are _perfectly_ capable of doing this if we work together, and besides, we’re part of the Ultra Guardians. We’ve been doing this for a while, protecting Alola from Ultra Beasts. Now, will you help us or not?”

The man scowled at Kiawe’s rough tone but relented all the same. They fought, and it was easier this time. One man’s Chinchou used electricity and water at the same time to make a more effective move, the conductive nature of the water exacerbating the shock of electricity.

They were fighting, and Lana was so in the zone (and so was everyone else) that they were all extremely surprised when something suddenly _exploded_ out of the water, something big and dark and imposing. She squinted. What _was_ it? It was staying out of the shallows, and extremely large, and it sent an _incredibly strong_ Hydro Pump at the Nihilego, and all of them were immediately blown away. They didn’t get up.

Lana _really_ hoped that thing was on their side. It had red glowing markings. When it rose a little more out of the water, suddenly she knew.

“ _Kyogre?!”_

Lana jumped up and down in glee. It was _Kyogre,_ the _legendary,_ the god of the sea, a Pokemon she’d been fascinated by her entire life. “Kiawe, ohmygoshohmygosh it’s Kyogre!”

The three men stood, watching, in disbelief, as Lana ran to the water, wading in until she was up to her knees. Kyogre _turned_ to her, and it looked into her eyes, and she felt so incredibly important that nothing else mattered as she met its stare. Some sort of— understanding, meaning, emotion— passed between them in that moment they held each other’s gaze. Finally, it looked away, and she was stood there, silent, amazed. Something in her wanted to _bow,_ in its calm imposing glory. “Are—are you here to help us, Kyogre?”

_Yes,_ she felt, though it wasn’t a word. It was a _feeling._ She just knew.

“Kiawe— call Ash! He needs to know we’ve got Kyogre on our side!”

He stood there, still reeling from the appearance of this _god. What?_ Some didn’t even _believe_ Kyogre really existed, that it was just a legend, but here it was, in all its glory, on the beach of Melemele Island. He fished his phone out of his pocket and called Ash. It rang, once, twice. Finally, “Kiawe! What is it?”

“Umm, Ash. You’re not going to believe what I’m about to say, but it's true.”

“Alright?”

“ _Kyogre,_ the god of the sea, just showed up on the shores of Hau’oli City, and I’m pretty sure it’s friends with Lana.”

“ _Kyogre_ is there? Why did he—? Shit, of _course_ Kyogre is there.”

Kiawe’s eyebrows furrowed, and he began uncertainly (and just a little threateningly) “Ash. You seem like this isn’t as crazy as it actually is. Why is that?”

“Uh… _look,_ so, I maybe have met Kyogre before? And he really cares about protecting the oceans and islands— he is the legendary god of the sea, after all— so I didn’t _expect_ him to come, but it makes sense. Look, just, be respectful. Don’t make him angry, legendaries are powerful and prideful, but if Lana is friends with him, just take the help he gives you. We’re _really_ gonna need it.”

He _reeled. What?_ How was he just supposed to accept all this? At a shocked yell from Ash, he asked “What happened? What was that?”

“Ahh, look, I have to _go,_ we’re kinda in the middle of a fight, and I really need to help with this. You can do it! Kyogre’s really strong!”

He hung up before Kiawe could say anything else, and Kiawe sighed, before turning to the girl in the sea. “Hey, Lana, Ash said that it’s good we have Kyogre, we’re gonna need all the help we can get! But, uh…be respectful of it—of _him_!”

She looked back at him, almost offended. “Of _course_ I’m going to be respectful!”

He stood there, as shocked and disbelieving as the other trainers that had helped them, and shook his head. Man, this was going to take some getting used to.

-.-.-.-

The jet landed on the Alolan sand, and as soon as Hobbes opened the doors, the passengers piled out. They had the Beast Balls. It was time to _really_ get started. Shortly before they’d landed, Sophocles and Mallow had called Ash and told him the news. Their phones had all buzzed, and it was a short message from him to everyone. 

**_Beast Balls are here. Get to the school as quick as you can. We’ll talk then._ **

Even Gladion hadn’t seen Ash being _quite_ so serious, and he’d really only been with him in dangerous times. It was unnerving, for everyone.

By the time they’d gotten all the Balls out of their bags, Ash and Lillie were there, panting. Kukui and Burnet weren’t far behind, disheveled and worn. A couple of minutes later, Kiawe and Lana descended from the air, and along with them, it appeared as though the sea itself were traveling. On closer inspection, was that… _Kyogre!?_

Kukui’s eyes widened and he looked to Ash, who was completely unsurprised.

_Ash…_

Once everyone was there, Ash turned, looking each of them in the eyes. His Riolu was on one shoulder, Pikachu on the other. His face was dirtied. They’d been fighting, for sure. “Okay, everyone. You’ve done amazing so far, and all of you are so brave and so strong, and I am so thankful that you’ve stepped up to help save Alola. But this was the easy part. We should be having help coming really soon, within the next hour or so. We need to take all the Beast Balls we can and start catching the Nihilego.”

Gladion stepped forward. “Ash, when we were in Aether Paradise, I noticed something. Some of the Nihilego, if we hurt them enough, opened their own wormholes and went back to Ultra Space. If we can remove whatever is binding them to Earth— the bait, the energy, whatever drew them here— then we can release them straight into Ultra Space, and it shouldn’t take much convincing to get them there.”

Ash nodded. “Thank you. That’s really helpful. So, top priority— catching Nihilego, as many as we can, and protecting people. Some people should start going over to the other islands.”

Kiawe spoke up. “I’m going to fly to Akala on Charizard, I’m worried about them.”

Ash nodded. “I can go on Kyogre to Poni Island! He wanted to take us over to the other islands and help fight on the coast.”

Everyone looked at her in disbelief, but Ash just agreed, unphased. “That’s an awesome idea. Lana, I don’t think you need anyone else to go with you for now, because you have _Kyogre._ He’s pretty strong. Kiawe, I think you should wait for someone to get here— I think she’ll be able to help you. She’s got powerful Pokemon and her Garchomp is well-trained. She should be here really soon.”

They nodded. “Okay. Second priority is figuring out what’s going on with everything— especially where the bait is and how to get rid of it. I’m not sure where to start with that…does anyone have any information? Have they figured it out?”

Gladion stepped forward, as did Professor Kukui and Burnet. “Actually, Ash, we do…”

Lillie looked guiltily to the side. She really needed to tell Ash, didn’t she?

“Okay, guys, so Mallow and Sophocles, you collect as many Beast Balls as you need and start fighting. My Lycanroc and Rowlet can go with you to help. Lana, get prepped with Kyogre. Kiawe, you can wait for the help, and Lillie, stick with me while we listen to Gladion, Professor Kukui, and Professor Burnet. And— remember, everyone. This is scary, I know. But through belief in yourselves, in your Pokemon, and in your friends, you can find bravery. You can find the strength to save Alola.”

They smiled and nodded.

“Okay, so, tell me what you found…”

-.-.-.-.-

A midmorning sun shone high in the sky over beautiful tropical islands. Nihilego swarmed the streets. People screamed. Many hid. Many fought. The wild Pokemon were silent, hiding in their own homes. Screens lit up, simultaneously, across all four islands. TVs, computers, phones, tablets, and more— all lit with the same broadcast. A woman with pink hair stood in front of the screen, a concerned expression on her face. “Citizens of Alola,” she started urgently. “This is an emergency broadcast. Alola is being attacked. Pokemon known as Ultra Beasts or Nihilego came out of a wormhole in the sky and swarmed across our peaceful home. Do not attempt to engage or fight with them. They are strong and prey on human and Pokemon energy. Stay inside, at all costs. Protect those you hold dear. Alola is doing its best to fight them off. Again, we repeat. Do not attempt to fight them. Stay _home._ Stay safe, Alola. Jesselina out.”

A man turned the camera off and held it down. “Do you think that’s enough, Jessie?”

“It has to be.”

Across Alola, people hid in their homes, holding their family close, as they watched the broadcast. In conference rooms, people sat in stricken silence staring at their screens. At doctor’s offices, at dentists, and outside, people watched. They listened.

“Stay safe, Alola.” echoed in their ears.

Jessie hoped they would listen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think! I'm really excited to write more of the climax, and although I do have it pretty set in stone, if there's anything you want to see or any ideas, let me know and I'll try to incorporate it!
> 
> Feedback and comments, as always, as very helpful and very appreciated!


	10. Off the Edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash dodged a Nihilego and looked to Lillie. “Thanks, Lillie, for telling me. I just— finally, someone else sees it! I knew that she wasn’t the victim in all this, and it was frustrating that everyone believed she was! I can’t— I can’t trust her, I can’t trust someone like that again, they all seem innocent, they all seem trustworthy, but then they turn around and stab you in the back and the next thing you know they’ve destroyed the city and you have to watch and you have to be the one to pick it up!”
> 
> His eyes were closed, tightly, and he turned his head away from her, tilting his hat down low to hide his face. The more he’d talked, the louder his voice had become, and bright blue energy had burst out of his hands, aimed towards a Nihilego and beating it back. It screeched. But, Lillie noticed, the aura was different. It was…darker, colder, more chilling. Wrong. It had only been a second, but she’d noticed it. It reminded her of Ultra Space. It reminded her of the NIhilego.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took a little longer than I wanted it to, but it's 14,000 words! I was really excited to write the last part, and I'm really excited to write the next chapter! Also, happy Valentine's Day!
> 
> Writing lots of different groups is actually a lot of work! But I really enjoyed writing this.
> 
> Be warned, again, there are quite a bit of swear words! And PTSD warning, but that's kind of a given with this series and it's in the tags. 
> 
> Enjoy reading!

A Dragonite’s wingbeats disturbed the sand, whirling it in the breeze of the movement. It landed on the soft earth and a man hopped off. He walked, with no small amount of urgency, to where he saw the boy was. The trainer, while still out of earshot, saw him and excitedly waved. More heads turned. Everyone looked at him.

Not long after, a jet landed on the long stretch of sand. There were no tourists or beachgoers today.

“Hi, Lance!”

He was about to greet the boy back when he turned his eyes to the ocean, and. There was. _Kyogre._

He looked back at Ash and took a deep breath. “Is that a fucking _Kyogre?!_ Ash Ketchum, _what the hell?_ When you said this was like Hoenn, I didn’t think you meant so _literally!”_

His head whipped around, a little desperately, searching, before he made eye contact with the boy once again. “ _Groudon_ isn’t here _too,_ is it?”

Ash laughed sheepishly, his hand rubbing his neck. “There’s no Groudon, Lance. And I didn’t even realize Kyogre was here until a little while ago! He just showed up!”

Lance stared. He stared more. “He just. Showed up?”

Ash snorted, this time. “What do you expect from me, at this point?”

“Ash Ketchum, I _swear to Arceus—“_

“Umm, excuse me?”

Both turned their gazes to the man who’d interrupted. He looked very nervous to be near Lance. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but, we’ve got some important things going on.” He looked down at the boy. “And Ash, once all this is over, I’m really going to need an _explanation,_ buddy.”

Ash just shrugged. The other children, at this point, seemed to be brave enough to speak up, all clattering over each other. “Is that _Champion Lance?”_ “Ash, how’d you get a _Champion_ to come here?”

Ash just turned back to Lance. “Okay, so. Cynthia should be here any second, and then we need to discuss splitting up. Once she gets here, Lance, I’ll tell you a little more about what’s going on, but I don’t want to have to say it twice. Just— be prepared. We’re gonna be fighting the Ultra Beasts.”

After only a minute more, a blonde woman walked along the boardwalk, and Ash waved enthusiastically, rushing over to her. And, for all that she was serious about the catastrophe at hand, she hugged Ash as tight as she could. “Oh, Ash, it’s so good to see you! I wish it could be on better circumstances, but I’ve certainly missed your optimism and joy!”

He laughed. “Okay, okay, I missed you too. I wish we could catch up more, but we really don’t have the time. We have to deal with this, fast. Lance is already here, and that’s great because we can actually start _doing_ stuff now.”

Soon enough, they were back at the group, who were anxiously waiting. His friends looked dumbfounded at the appearance of the second Champion, who just waved politely back at them. He gave a short explanation of what was happening and what Ultra Beasts were before looking at each of his friends. “Okay, everyone, time to get down to business now. So, Cynthia,” he pointed to the boy next to the Charizard, “this is Kiawe. He’s going to fly to Akala Island to help defend the people from the Nihilego and help catch them. I think it would be good for you to go with him and help the people of that island. There’s been a broadcast put out for everyone to stay in their homes, so I’m hoping they’re following that, but if you see anyone out, tell them to get to safety and fast. Any questions?”

She shook her head no. “Okay, awesome. Can you guys take some Beast Balls and go do that now?”

“Sure, Ash.” She turned to her mission partner. “Nice to meet you, Kiawe. I’m sure that we’re going to do great working with each other.”

She reached her hand out to shake his, a gesture which he returned. Kiawe climbed onto Charizard’s back, while Cynthia sent out her Togekiss, and both departed quickly over the waters reaching Akala Island. Ash turned. “Okay, Lana, are you and Kyogre ready to go to Poni Island?”

The girl looked to the legendary before looking back at Ash. “Yeah, we’re ready.”

Lance looked impatiently to Ash, who gave a small smile back. “Yes, Lance, okay. Do you think you should work by yourself or with some others?”

“I think it would be best if I help out on my own— you forget, I’m more than capable of defending against these.”

“Okay. You should probably go to Ula’ula. Again, tell people to get to safety if they’re still outside. You know what to do, you’ve done this before.”

Lance narrowed his eyes at Ash. “Don’t…do anything reckless, Ash.”

Ash’s gaze only hardened. “I won’t.”

“…I don’t believe that, but…I trust that you’re strong enough to deal. Be careful.”

Everyone else who still remained, somehow feeling as though they were intruding on something meaningful and private, averted their eyes respectfully. They didn’t know how Ash knew two Champions so well, but there was clearly some history (Kukui couldn’t help but wonder—Ash definitely had not told him everything, but he had opened up about some of the crises he’d been in. How many of those had he been working with Champions, but had deigned that information not relevant? What did that imply?)

Ash looked to Sophocles and Mallow. “Alright, guys, do you want to stay on Melemele and work together?”

They looked at each other and nodded. “Alright, then, take Lycanroc and Rowlet with you.”

Sophocles nodded and stepped forward. “Ash, we’ll do our best. You do your best too. Let’s do this together.”

Both boys smiled. “You bet, Sophocles. We can do this. You can do this. All of you can! You can be strong!”

The two of them grabbed as many Beast Balls as they could carry before jogging off towards some of the busier parts of town, hoping to find some Nihilego to apprehend. Once it was just Lillie, Gladion, and the two Professors left, he turned to them, looking them each in the eyes. “So, let me get this right. Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet, you believed Lusamine did this before you heard what Gladion said? On purpose? Or on accident?”

“Yes, and I’m not willing to rule out the possibility that it was intentional.”

He nodded, looking down into Riolu’s eyes, who was standing near him. “Neither am I. I do think she’s capable of this— I’m just not sure how. I don’t know where she got the energy, or where she even got the equipment to pull off something this big! I just—!”

He looked to Gladion. “And we know why we weren’t able to contact Aether Paradise now. You don’t know anything about a safe house?”

“No, I’ve never heard anything about that.”

“But Lusamine is undeniably the cause of this— I just wish we could find her, or any of the other scientists, so we could talk to them! They’ve got to know more!”

Gladion looked conflicted and…hesitant, before speaking up. “Ash, I didn’t mention this before, but one of the reasons I _know_ this was purposeful was because last night I saw Lusamine, and she was _really_ angry. She was provoked into doing this.”

Ash didn’t miss how Lillie pulled back, ever so slightly, and asked “What provoked her?”

The two siblings looked at each other, sharing a look for just a second, and so much passed between them, and Ash couldn’t quite tell what it was— Gladion was very guarded with his emotions, and so was Lillie, although she looked guilty. Gladion finally looked back at Ash. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t there when it happened. I don’t think that matters, so much as that she _was_ angry and that motivated her to do this.”

Ash knew when he wasn’t supposed to know something. He did. But he still balled up his fists, and looked away, over the ocean, where he could see Nihilego swarming, crossing the sea, where he could see Kyogre, where he could see Cynthia and Kiawe as just specks now. “But _why_ would she do all this?”

No one answered. Of course, it mattered, but what was more important was protecting everyone and solving the problem. He shook off the growing unease about this whole situation, about the feeling that they weren’t enough, that this problem was _just too big,_ that there was something bigger at work, and that he was left out of the loop. He wanted to be more in control. He didn’t even notice his aura rising in him unsteadily until Riolu’s energy, ever so calm,settled his own nerves.

“Okay, well. What’s more important is that we get everything done! I’m gonna stay here on Melemele and fight, and Lillie can you come with me? And Gladion, you can do it on your own, and go wherever you feel you’ll be the most help. One of the other islands might be a good idea. You could go to Ula’ula and join Lance, or…”

He smiled. “Got it, Ash. You can trust me.”

Professor Kukui and Burnet turned to him. “We’ll stay on the island too, but we’ll travel to the other coast. If we hear anything more about the energy or Lusamine, we’ll go and help there, alright honey?”

Ash smiled. “Stay safe.”

Soon enough, only Ash, Riolu, Pikachu, and Lillie were left. Lillie still averted her eyes, and Ash was about to ask more, before. There was a _loud_ crash, a reverberating noise, and it almost seemed to distort reality, in the way that the winds picked up, swirling around the two humans, before coming to an abrupt stop. There was no noise at all, not even a breath, before the echoes came back, louder and louder until Pikachu covered his ears and Riolu started to whine. Ash’s eyes were narrowed, and he looked at the seemingly still air around them before it started to _morph._

And he thought it was a wormhole, he really did. But then the ripples spread until they covered most of the sky. The distorted air swayed from side to side as though he was looking through heat waves before the sounds stopped, and it opened. And Ash didn’t know what he was expecting but it wasn’t _Dialga._ And Palkia followed, from the other side, the two of them roaring ferociously with their clicks and screeches. And above the ocean, as the waves crashed onto the beach, the air twisted and changed, until Ash was looking into a mirror, and he stepped back in shock, before the mirror twisted, again, and right before it happened, he knew.

Lillie didn’t, and reeled back in shock when a glowing ferocious beast _propelled_ out of the mirror, heading straight toward Ash and her. She screamed. Ash just laughed, opening his arms. “Giratina! It’s so good to see you!” 

Pikachu chattered happily, and the god of the Distortion World flew around in the air majestically. He looked haunting, and Lillie was sure that he could have killed her on the spot had he intended to. He looked like he did. But as soon as Ash greeted him, his demeanor entirely changed, resembling that more of a Rockruff, and he flew down to Ash’s side, moving his head ever so slightly. Ash just laughed more, jumping on, and Pikachu looked so _excited,_ and Lillie had never been so confused. She knew Ash had experience with legendaries, but _this?_

Giratina flew over the ocean, and Ash felt the wind blow through his hair. And even though they had the fate of the world in their hands, he let himself go for just a moment, because he was riding on the back of _Giratina,_ who’d offered to give him a joyride, and dammit, he was going to enjoy himself. Pikachu laughed, and squeaked happily, clinging to Ash’s hair so tightly that it hurt, but he didn’t care. It was only when he looked down to the ground at Lillie’s face when he realized.

And then Dialga and Palkia, angry that they were being ignored, decided to let out their reverberating roars once again, and the very atmosphere itself seemed to shake with their intensity. And for all that Ash was familiar with the legendaries, he, too, knew when all they wanted was the respect and reverence from humans they expected. So he indicated for Giratina to let him down onto the sand, where he looked to them and bowed respectfully. They calmed. He looked up. “Dialga, Palkia! What brought you here?”

He could guess, but. He never _really_ knew with legendaries. They made eye contact, and all was silent, and Ash understood. They were angry.Space had been messed with, which angered Palkia, and when Palkia was angry, so was Dialga. They wanted retribution for the one that had committed these atrocities, and while Ash was angry at Lusamine, he didn’t want her to face these _gods._

He lifted his chin high. “I understand. Can you help us defeat all the Nihilego? The creatures that are not from this world? They are terrorizing our dimension, and people and Pokemon, and that must stop.”

They didn’t indicate anything, neither sound nor visual cue, but he understood them all the same. They would fight.

“Thank you, Great Ones.” (Ash was reverent of legendary Pokemon, but at the honorific, something in him was unsettled. He still didn’t forgive all of them— especially Arceus—but he didn’t have the time for spite or bitterness to fester. He had to _save Alola.)_

And he thought it was over. He thought it was done. He was ready to fight. But then the wind picked up again, and electricity crackled in the air, Pikachu’s own pouches responding in kind to the static raising Ash’s and Lillie’s hairs. And then, all at once, the four Tapu came. Tapu Koko flew up to Ash, stealing his hat, and though he smiled briefly, his attention was on the rest. Tapu Bulu, Tapu Lele, and Tapu Fini, all of them circling the two humans, and Ash’s aura _reached_ out to them, to all the legendaries there, and Riolu felt it too, and there was something deeply sacred about all of this.

Lillie stood stock still, shocked, and in awe, as she watched the sacred procession— was it a ritual?— unfolding around them. There were _so many legendaries,_ and there weren’t ever supposed to be this many together, but there were, and though she supposed desperate times called for desperate measures, her mind was so caught up in the impossibility of it that she completely ignored it, focusing on her instinct, which was to _respect_ the great beasts. Dialga and Palkia, the gods of time and space, and Giratina, the legendary ruler of antimatter and the Distortion World. Everyone knew the myths, even outside of Sinnoh, and although they were rumored to really exist, well. She hadn’t known for sure if they did. But here, in all their glory, their intense power seemed to make even the inanimate respect them. The sea calmed. The air was still. The palm fronds stopped their swaying, sparkling in the sun in such a reverent way she didn’t know it was possible for a tree to convey so much emotion.

She half expected _Arceus_ to come at this point. And the Tapu. And they were all staring at Ash. She couldn’t help but feel very small, and very insignificant before he grabbed her hand, and he looked at her, and she looked at him, and the Tapu were still circling, and though it was chaotic, it was calm, and she knew it would be okay. Ash’s Pikachu withdrew defensively at the Tapu, his cheeks sparking, but with a deep breath, Ash calmed him, and then the Tapu came to a stop.

“I understand. You’re upset about what’s happening to Alola. This is not natural. This was wrong. We are defending and doing our best to not only protect, but to defeat and return the Ultra Beasts to their home. Can you help?”

The Tapu looked at him, each taking their time before affirming. Ash smiled. “Thank you. Thank you, all of you. Do what you want to help protect Alola.”

And with that, most of them were dismissed by the words of a teenager. All that remained were Tapu Koko and Giratina, who still stuck by Ash’s side devotedly. Ash looked to Koko. “You understand we can’t battle right now, right? I wish we could, but we can’t. Protecting is more important.”

Tapu Koko agreed, and Ash turned to Giratina. “Hey, wanna help us fight?”

Giratina gave a great cry, a cheerful one, and Lillie couldn’t help but smile. Sure, none of this was normal, and honestly, it was alarming and scary, but that was okay. Giratina was friendly enough, and they needed all the help they could get. “Alright!” Ash began, pumping his fist.  “Let’s do this!”

Giratina tilted his head back as he stretched out his body, and Ash smiled. “We’re riding you?”

At the great beast’s nod, Ash and Pikachu hopped on happily, Riolu following, and Ash held his hand out to Lillie invitingly. When she didn’t immediately take it, his smile dimmed. “You okay, Lillie?”

She looked at him a little while longer. She debated asking him about _all_ of this, but, seeing everything that was happening, now wasn’t the best time. She looked at Giratina, who, in all of the illustrations, all of the myths, was made to look like a monster, to look evil, and smiled. The real Giratina wasn’t like that at all—although, at first glance, he was quite intimidating and powerful, he was kind and playful. Maybe legendaries weren’t as mythical as they all believed. She’d seen that with Solgaleo really just being Nebby, and with Tapu Koko playing with Ash. They weren’t quite the stone-cold, majestic, heavenly beings many believed them to be. Sure, there was _Dialga and Palkia,_ who’d just been there, who were terrifyingly massive, their bodies emanating power, but.

Maybe, just like with Nebby, she could be friends with Giratina, too. Ash and Pikachu didn’t seem to be having a hard time of it. She looked to her friend again, smiled, and took his hand. “Let’s go!”

He smiled back, and Giratina rose into the air, and the wind blew through her hair, and she couldn’t help but feel excited. This was _exhilarating._ It was so _cool._

Lillie looked down to the ground below. There were scattered Nihilego, but they tended to stay in clusters. Within a minute or two, they saw a rather large cluster, and just the sight of that many— there had to be at least twenty—set her heart pumping as her hands clutched tight to Giratina’s back. Ash indicated for the legendary to bring them down. They were going to fight. She’d better be ready.

“Alright Snowy, come on out!

Snowy popped out of her ball, and Ash let out his Torracat. Pikachu hopped off of Giratina’s back, and Riolu shifted, looking up to Ash. “Okay, guys. Get ready to fight. Lillie, help me catch them in Beast Balls. Tapu Koko, you can do whatever you need to fight, alright? Giratina, you too. Attack the Nihilego. Don’t hurt people. Lillie, you know what to do, and Riolu?”

The Pokemon looked to him with a nod. “Awesome. We can do it.”

And with that, they ran into the fray. All at once, twenty different Nihilego turned to them, shifting to the attack. There weren’t all that many people, thankfully, but for the few that were there, Lillie shouted to them. “Everyone, please! Get to safety! Go home, stay inside! Don’t fight!"

There were screams as they saw _Giratina,_ but they quieted down once they realized he didn’t pose a danger to them. The great beast launched on the attack, large shadows erupting from his body, seeming to cast the area into darkness, and it became significantly colder. The shadows turned into an attack and aimed at the Nihilego, who shrieked.

Tapu Koko flew up high, shooting electricity down at some other beasts. They attacked him back with their own acid and shadows, countering the lightning. Lillie ordered Snowy to use an ice attack, and the little Vulpix mustered as much ice power as she could, shooting it up at an Ultra Beast. It gave a cry and swooped down to Snowy, who dodged, just barely.

Before Ash could even begin an attack, three Nihilego swooped straight towards him, and though he dodged to the side, the closer he got to them, the more he could _feel_ their energy, their thoughts, like whispers in his ears. It made his own aura, and the Ultra Energy in him, shift uncomfortably, and he didn’t like it. These Nihilego seemed…more intelligent, than before, somehow. And they went straight for the humans— he saw another attack Lillie, which Snowy defended her from. It was like they were getting smarter.

He didn’t like the thought.

“Hey, Pikachu?”

Pikachu looked at him. “I’ll try to do my best to guide you, but you can battle on your own! Same goes with you, Riolu!”

And with that, he took a deep breath in and out, and felt Riolu’s presence calming his own aura. He still couldn’t control it on his own, and he didn’t want the energy to lash out, because while they had a lot of enemies, they had just as many allies. He didn’t want to hurt anyone.

A Nihilego swooped towards him, and he formed an aura sphere and pushed out, a little more than he meant to, and the gelatinous monster was blown back a little, before coming forward. He made a wall this time, taking a breath as he strengthened it, before pushing it forward with a swoop of his arms. The Nihilego was blown back a good ten feet, and the wall dematerialized.

Riolu and Ash, together, made their own aura spheres, and pushed them into the Nihilego, one after another, blue light trails following the balls of energy as they soared through the air. Pikachu joined Ash, his electricity aimed towards the spheres, wrapping around them, creating an orbit of yellow lightning around a royal blue glow, and when they hit the Nihilego, they were paralyzed before being hit by the aura.

Torracat used his fire to help Lillie in her fight against the Nihilego, and Ash created a shield on one arm, running closer to the Ultra Beasts. Four surrounded him, and though fear rose in his heart unsteadily, he used the adrenaline to smile, push through, and attack. He put his arm up, the shield morphing, expanding, into a bubble, glowing blue and emanating heat, pushing away the Nihilego. They shrieked so loud it hurt his ears. Two were down with that, and with Riolu swooping in to help with an extra-powered aura sphere launched at the other two, that was four down.

A sudden roar distracted Ash, and he looked to see Giratina snaking through the air, throwing shadows and power on the Nihilego, as quite a few tried to fly after him. Blackness spread through the air as Giratina roared, powerfully, and this time it really cast them all in darkness, day turning to night, as shadows eclipsed the sun. It was cold, and blacker than night. There were no stars. The Nihilego shrieked, and Ash remembered that they didn’t rely on their eyes to see. They used energy seeking. He threw up an aura sphere, willing it to spread, and it cast a hazy blue glow over him, until he could barely see. Lillie was near him, and she looked towards the blue. Pikachu’s electricity sparked. He felt the whispers before he saw the Nihilego.

It felt as though all was silent, before a Nihilego swooped towards him faster than he could react. It was cold, and he felt like choking, but it barely touched him before Riolu was there, making his own shield, and Pikachu sparked with a Thunderbolt. All of a sudden, then, the shadows dispelled, the blackness somehow materializing into physical matter, slicing like knives through the air and batting at the Nihilego. When sunlight once again shined on Ash’s skin, he saw. Over ten Nihilego had been felled during the time of blackness. It had only lasted half a minute at the most, and he had to smile. Giratina was powerful. 

Ash threw Beast Balls, and so did Lillie, and they caught the Ultra Beasts before they could rise again (not that he thought they would). Tapu Koko flew down low, flying around Ash in a circle, and he heard the static building up in the Guardian’s body. It let out a cascade of bolts, lightning raining down from the sky (he didn’t miss how they avoided all of them, only directed toward their enemies). Ash’s pulse quickened. That was so _cool._

Lillie was smiling because although she was terrified, all of this was awesome. She watched asAsh tossed around energy and aura, blue flashes lighting up the area mixing with the yellow sparks of electricity and orange flares of fire from Torracat. 

“Pikachu, Electroweb!”

The electric mouse sent out a web of yellow buzzing bolts that caught four different Nihilego, forcing them together and electrifying the paralyzed beasts. After a moment or two, they were all down, and Lillie threw Beast Balls to catch them. Snowy and Torracat, together, attacked with ice and fire at the last Nihilego, and it, too, was weakened enough for her to catch it, and then they were done. Twenty Ultra Beasts taken care of, just like that, and Lillie was panting. So was Ash, and he was smiling, and all their Pokemon, while tired, were fired up and ready for more. If only they’d had legendaries to help when they were with the Ultra Guardians—!

That thought suddenly killed Lillie’s excited mood, because oh, yeah. Lusamine. She needed to tell Ash.

Her hand reached forward, slightly, before pulling back. “Ash, I—“

Suddenly, she didn’t want to tell him anymore, but it was too late because he was already paying attention. His brows were ever-so-slightly furrowed, in confusion and concern. “What’s up, Lillie?”

And she was mustering up her courage, she was about to tell him, she _was,_ when a sudden cry from Tapu Koko turned both their heads. It was an alert. There were more coming. They were… _angry._ They were searching, prowling, like a Liepard on the hunt, stalking. It gave Ash the chills. They hadn’t even gotten a chance to rest. When the Nihilego got closer, they let out their unholy shrieks and sprung into action.

“Lillie, what did you want to say?”

This was as good a time as any, she supposed. In between ordering Snowy and Torracat to attack, she managed to find her words. “Ash, there is something I haven’t been telling you.”

There wasn’t a response, and he waited for her to continue. “Last night, something happened with my— with Lusamine. I talked to her, and she got really, _really_ angry. I don’t— I don’t want to be her daughter anymore. But that’s not the point. The _point_ is that she was pushed to the edge, and I think she was pretty close anyway. I don’t— I don’t think she was quite the victim that everyone thought she was,” and here, Ash scoffed, just barely, but she didn’t want to focus on that, instead wanting to finish her point. “And so I believe that was one of her main motivations for doing this— since she did— and that she _did_ do it purposefully, at least partially. I don’t want to believe her capable of wanting _all_ this destruction.”

Ash dodged a Nihilego, and looked to Lillie. “Thanks, Lillie, for telling me. I just— _finally,_ someone else sees it! I _knew_ that she wasn’t the victim in all this, and it was frustrating that everyone believed she was! I can’t— I can’t trust her, I can’t trust someone like that again, they _all_ seem innocent, they all seem trustworthy, but then they turn around and stab you in the back and the next thing you know they’ve destroyed the city and you have to watch and _you_ have to be the one to _pick it up!”_

His eyes were closed, tightly, and he turned his head away from her, tilting his hat down low to hide his face. The more he’d talked, the louder his voice had become, and bright blue energy had burst out of his hands, aimed towards a Nihilego and beating it back. It screeched. But, Lillie noticed, the aura was different. It was…darker, colder, more chilling. Wrong. It had only been a second, but she’d noticed it. It reminded her of Ultra Space. It reminded her of the NIhilego.

Ash opened his eyes and looked at the ground, trying to ignore the sudden rise of anger. He didn’t know where that came from— he’d been so coolheaded all day, why was he suddenly angry and, and—and what? Defensive? Bitter? 

Hurt?

His stupid brain kept drawing parallels between today and Kalos, and they weren’t even the same, and he had to shake his head to ignore it. Where had all this come from?

Since when had his aura been so free to burst out whenever he was angry?

Since when had he been so out of control?

_Since the Ultra Energy,_ his mind helpfully supplied. Since he’d had that fucking meltdown after Ultra Space, before he’d talked to Gladion.

Since Hunter J.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Get _out_ of your head!

Lillie looked on in worry, not sure what to do, the two of them a pocket of silence in the eye of a storm of Nihilego and fighting and noise. She reached out her hand, and before she could put a voice to her concern, Ash turned back to her, a big smile on her face.

That was quick.

“Sorry about that, Lillie, maybe today’s just being a little stressful. But I’m totally fine, and I’m ready to get back into the fight! Are you?”

There was no anger from him about that she’d kept a secret, and it was such a complete 180 that she was a little shocked, but she put it aside. Not the time. Today was not the time to deal with all this. That was for tomorrow, a better tomorrow, when the fight was done and won. Now, they had to fight. She smiled, too, and nodded.

Ash couldn’t help but notice, in the back of his mind, that her smile could not be further from Lusamine’s, _especially_ in this moment. She was happier.

See? The bad guys always showed their true colors. The bad guys were always defeated. Good always triumphed, every time, and they would again. They had to fight.

When Ash finally looked to the battle and focused, he noticed how many there were. There were even more Nihilego— there had to be at least forty if not fifty and the sheer number was overwhelming. He supposed that, with people in their homes and hiding, the Nihilego would crowd those that were still out and about.

Also, they did have a giant fucking signal beam of darkness in the _shadow god_ flying above them.

Ash looked to Riolu, who’d been fighting, and Riolu looked back. His friend was ready to support him in what he needed to do. Man, he loved his Pokemon.

Man, he loved this world. This world that he wanted to protect.

It was time for Ash to carry his weight, so he centralized himself with a breath, and then let it out. And, hey, if he was going to use his aura, might as well be epic with it, right? (The competitive side of him wanted to show off for Lillie too, and he wished the rest of his friends were here, just because, if they knew about aura now, he might as well have someone to show his powers to, right?)

He focused, letting the energy wisp out of his fingers, twisting and solidifying and forming, until he felt it was strong enough, and _jumped_ onto the aura platform. He lost his balance for a second, windmilling his arms before he settled. He was _standing on aura._ Ash could only feel elated for a second, though, because a Nihilego was swooping toward him, so he created another and jumped onto it, dodging his assailant, and formed the old platform into a projectile, attacking the Nihilego with it. He jumped higher, onto another one, and created a cylinder wall, trapping the Ultra Beast in it, before compressing it until the Nihilego cried and tried to escape. He threw a Beast Ball, and it was caught, and the sphere fell to the ground.

Elation rose in him and he smiled, warm and bright, because this was _so cool._ Ash faltered for a second, suddenly, his knees almost giving out, the aura platform beneath him thinning and weakening but not dispelling. After a moment, he took a deep breath and stood back up, ignoring the black tinge to his vision. Maybe, he supposed, he shouldn’t be pushing himself _quite_ so hard.

Hm. He was fine, right?

He landed on the ground gracefully, and Pikachu greeted him with a squeak. “Hey, nice going, buddy! You’re doing amazing! You too, Torracat, and Riolu, and Snowy!”

Tapu Koko was formidable, felling Nihilego after Nihilego with Thunder attacks that rivaled the strongest of lightning strikes from the most violent storms. And even though it was bright as day, the lights still flashed brightly, almost blindingly.

Giratina roared, and suddenly everything was weird. It was all weird, and loopy, and he’d felt this before, but he couldn’t place it until suddenly his feet were off the floor, ever so slightly, and reality was all wonky and wrong. He’d felt this in the Distortion World. Purple energy swirled around the Nihilego, attacking them, and it looked half like a Hyper Beam (that barely made him shudder, now) and half like a poison attack, but it was neither. And Ash smiled again, because Giratina was _so cool._

Just as suddenly, gravity was normal again, and everyone landed a little uncertainly on their feet. A good fifteen Nihilego fell to the ground at the same time, and didn’t get back up.

Lillie was disoriented, looking around wildly. What _was_ Giratina? How? How did it defy the laws of physics? How?

She was glad the legendary was on their side.

Riolu flipped and twisted in the air, shooting Aura Sphere after Aura Sphere, as Snowy used Powder Snow to freeze the tentacles of the gelatinous creatures.

Some of the Nihilego were opening their own wormholes to go back to Ultra Space, and it was uplifting to see that, but it reminded Ash that they still needed to remove the bait binding the Ultra Beasts to Earth because if they could get that, the Nihilego would much more readily leave.

A thin streak of aura snaked around Ash, and Pikachu’s electricity intermingled with it, twisting and turning and combining, sparking and glowing, and though it was small, Ash could _feel_ the power in it. It ruffled his hair. Riolu and Pikachu were extending him an invitation. _Let’s combine our power. Let’s finish this._

He considered using the powered-up move in Ultra Space, but the memory of his faltering just a few minutes ago gave him pause. Instead, he shouted “Pikachu! Gigavolt Havoc!”

As he formed the moves, Riolu picked up quickly, not only following him in the positions, but using a lot of his own energy to power up Pikachu and Ash, together, as they poured power into the move. Electricity _crackled,_ booming, and the air grew electrified. The hairs on Ash’s neck and arms rose, staticky. He smiled. This was going to be _good._

Lightning _burst_ out of Pikachu’s cheeks, individual bolts forming into a sphere, concentrating, before it _blasted_ out in an explosion of electricity, _leveling the ground._ The remaining Nihilego fell, their gelatinous bodies littering the floor. Lillie crouched, being affected by the electricity herself, as were the Pokemon. Ash felt as buzzy as every other time he was electrocuted by Pikachu. He fell onto his butt, sitting back, as Riolu mirrored him and Pikachu barely mustered the energy to climb into his lap. That was a _lot._

But he just felt like laughing. It was all so _cool._ It was epic. He loved battles. He loved it more when he could be _in the battles,_ too (he was reminded of Greninja, and he cringed, because the memory of Greninja combined with these circumstances reminded him, again, of the Battle for Kalos.)

Lillie caught the Nihilego, the other Pokemon helping to toss the balls around. When she was finished, she turned to him. “Ash. I knew you said you were powerful. I saw you in Ultra Space. But your aura is so _epic!_ And everyone, _amazing_ job, to all of you!”

He smiled. They all waited in silence, for a moment more, but no more Nihilego came.

Ash felt like falling asleep at this point, just for a little bit, but he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t be _already_ tired, not when they still had so much more left to do. He’d be fine. He’d push through. He always did.

-.-.-.-.-

Since they’d landed on Akala Island, Kiawe hadn’t known what to say to Cynthia. Sure, she wasn’t the Champion of Alola— they didn’t have one, in the absence of a League. But she was still a Champion, and while Kiawe hadn’t wanted to question Ash— knowing one Champion wasn’t _that_ weird, public figures were still just people after all, and he’d traveled all around— but knowing two, well enough to call them here, was something he wanted to know more about.

Cynthia, while personable, was very straight-to-business, bringing out her team of formidable Pokemon to fight the Nihilego. He stared in awe at the strength that emanated off their bodies— her Garchomp especially. She looked happy and well-cared for, but Kiawe knew for certain that she could beat his strongest Pokemon in a heartbeat.

He’d sent out his own Pokemon, too- Turtonator and Marowak to join Charizard and they were battle-ready. The Nihilego circled. They sprung into the fray, and the fight began.

It was a blur of fire, poison, acid, and Hyper Beams. A blur of yelling commands, of dodging Nihilego, and shouts and cries from the Pokemon. At one point, Kiawe felt it building in him. He could feel it— it was time. Their battling energy built up together, and Turtonator looked to him. He smiled and nodded. “Alright, Turtonator! It's time to show them how it's done! The zenith of my mind, of body, and spirit! Like the great mountain of Akala, become a raging fire and burn! Inferno Overdrive!”

A great explosion of fire built up, heat blistering onto Kiawe’s face, but he dared not turn away. It grew, and grew, until it _burst,_ and fire rained down on the Nihilego as they screamed. He smelled burnt…skin, almost, but it smelt more like burnt gelatin. It was gross. But that took out at least five of the Nihilego, and he tossed Beast Balls to catch them.

A minute later, and motion in the sky caught his eye. He looked up, and…was that Tapu Lele?

It was. Sightings were rare enough (of course, when he was with Ash it was the exception) but Tapu Lele was fighting, too. Not with them, but…

Of course. The Guardian’s home was being attacked. Of course, it would defend Akala Island. Kiawe smiled and turned back to the battle with renewed energy.

Cynthia ordered her Garchomp into a Draco Meteor, and orange fireworks rained down from the sky, exploding on impact with the ground. The Nihilego dodged— they were getting better at that, with every minute that passed, they evolved, smarter and smarter. It was unnerving. But meteors were difficult to dodge, and quite a few were still hit. With a Flamethrower next, multiple were down for the count.

She had to commend Kiawe for his Z move— those were an Alola specialty, and she hadn’t had the chance to see one up close. It was powerful— she could feel that, for sure.

An ear-shattering screech shook Cynthia out of her reverie, and she looked to the source. It wasn’t a Nihilego. No, this was different, it was familiar, and…

What?

The sky rippled purple, and out of a portal came a blue entity, powerful and looming, and _why was Dialga_ here? Why was Dialga not in Sinnoh— why was it on Earth at all?

As soon as she saw the god, she felt the urge to bow— it was one of the Creation Trio, after all, the main gods of her region. But the last time she’d seen Dialga, it had been angry, controlled, on Mt. Coronet, back with Cyrus. Back with Ash.

But of course. The dimensions were artificially warped, too many beings crossing between worlds. Of course the god of time— and, most likely, the god of space too— would be angry.

Dialga screeched again, and powerful, pulsing circles of energy flew out of its mouth like a Supersonic toward the ground in the distance. She had no doubt there were Nihilego down there.

Cynthia hoped there weren’t people, too.

Legendaries were territorial, protective of the natural order of things and their personal domains. When that was messed with, usually by megalomaniacs led by delusions of grandeur, they were angry and prompted into action. They protected the Earth. When it worked out, they protected people and Pokemon.

But legendary Pokemon weren’t so benevolent as to go out of their way to help humans— at least not the more powerful ones, like the Creation Trio. They made alliances with humans, and, when shown the right reverence, respected them back, but they were not so concerned with protecting human life. So Dialga, in its actions to destroy the Nihilego, wouldn’t care if humans were in the crossfire.

Cynthia really hoped that people had listened to the emergency broadcast. If they hadn’t…

She’d hoped there wouldn’t be any deaths today. Now, she wasn’t so sure.

-.-.-.-

Lana didn’t think she’d ever had so much fun. Sure, the apocalypse was sort of happening, and a lot of people were in danger, including her— but she was riding the _god of the sea across the ocean._ The saltwater splashed onto her face, and she felt at home in her favorite terrain. Kyogre was smooth and strong, his skin slick and wet. The navy blue contrasted with the glowing red of his markings, and he was just altogether _epic._

As the ocean churned beneath them and the salty wind rushed through her hair, she looked toward Poni Island, which grew closer with every breath. She could see Nihilego, already, crawling the island like— like an invasion, which was what it was. Lana had always been the first among her friends to spread conspiracy theories about alien invasions, and she’d been fascinated with them when she was younger. And, although this wasn’t really from another planet, she supposed this was relatively similar— after all, Ultra Beasts weren’t from Earth.

She’d just hoped, when she did speculate, that aliens would be benevolent. The Nihilego were not so.

Soon enough, they were on the shores of Poni Island, and Kyogre’s momentum brought a big wave crashing down onto the sand. They had to stick to the shores in their fight since Kyogre couldn’t really move onto land— so if the Nihilego were going to stay inland, they’d have to lure them out (she hoped, she hoped, that most people were hiding in their homes and that it shouldn’t be a problem to lure them away from the usually-crowded city centers. She hoped the Nihilego weren’t smart enough to start attacking homes.)

She slid off Kyogre’s back and her fit hit the wet sand. “Hey, Kyogre, you ready to start fighting?”

Although the great beast didn’t nod, Lana knew implicitly that his answer was yes. She smiled. “Awesome. This will be epic.”

She sent out her Popplio. Sandy was still resting, tired from the earlier fight. She smiled. This would be a water fight.

Nihilego weren’t on the beach, as it was deserted of people, so she had to lure them out. “Alright, Kyogre, wait here. I’m going to bring them out so we can fight them on the beach and you can help. Be right back!”

She ran inland, reaching the town in a minute or two. There weren’t any people, but there were Nihilego, patrolling, searching for humans. When she got close enough, they all turned to her simultaneously, and it was chilling. Her shoulders hiked up and she involuntarily pulled away. Her arm itched, and the memory of the toxins infecting her brain, the memory of their freezing slime sent shivers down her spine.

They were coming towards her now, but she was still frozen, feet rooted to the ground, and Popplio’s cry of alarm was all that could break her out of it before she started running back to the beach, her sandals smacking at the pavement. (She thought, absently, that sandals weren’t the best choice of footwear for a day like today.)

She was back on sand again soon enough, and Kyogre grew agitated at the sight of the enemy, and Lana calmed. She had a fucking _legendary_ on her side against the Nihilego, and even if she felt like she was alone, she wasn’t. The Ultra Beasts didn’t stand a _chance._

There weren’t too many— no more than 15 (which _was_ a lot, but not in comparison to how many there were in all) but, all crowded together, their multitude loomed over her and caught her breath in her throat. She’d better pay attention, not wanting to be caught unawares by the predators. _She_ was the only human here. She was their prey.

“Popplio, Bubble Beam!”

A vicious torrent of bubbles surrounded the two Nihilego leading the army, circling around them before popping on their gelatinous blubber in a shower of sparkles and water. Kyogre started strong, a _giant_ wave rising out of the ocean, looming like a tsunami, before _crashing_ onto the shore, and Lana was ready to curl up into a ball, the vicious torrent of water headed straight toward her, but somehow it avoided her and Popplio, just barely, a narrow circle of land around the two of them in the middle of a vast sea of water. The Nihilego _gurgled,_ and it was a moment before the water receded, many of the Nihilego remaining on the attack but looking worse for wear.

Lana smiled. “Hey, Popplio, you ready? Hydro Vortex, let’s go!”

Popplio started to glow, surrounded by Z energy, before water materialized out of thin air, bursting in a huge torrent, before swirling and swirling, a whirlpool spinning, and Popplio surfed along the water, and he _crashed_ into the Nihilego with such a ferocity they were bounced back quite a bit, screeching. Lana smiled. _That_ would show them.

After a second more, three of the Nihilego fell, and she threw Beast Balls to catch them. There was nothing to be afraid of. It would be fine.

A second later, though, she had to dodge the impossibly fast _swoop_ of a Nihilego. Its tentacles barely brushed her arm, and it stung. She winced. Damn. She didn’t want to know what that would’ve felt like if she _had_ been absorbed.

Lana had to be more careful. Nihilego were still dangerous.

Water burst out of the ocean like a Hydro Pump, hurtling toward the Nihilego and it flew through the air, freezing on the outside before it hit the creatures. The ice exploded on impact, water covering the beasts. They fired their own sizzling purple acid at Popplio and Lana, seeming to recognize that even if Kyogre had been within range, their attacks would’ve done nothing.

Lana suppressed a cry as a few stray drops of the poison hit her arm and it _stung._ It stung like the neurotoxin. “Kyogre, Popplio, let’s _finish this!”_

Lana’s Pokemon launched into an Icy Wind, freezing some of the Nihilego in place, and Kyogre reared back, roaring, as more of the sea crashed onto the Nihilego with a wave, again missing Lana. But this was different. This time, the ocean _crackled,_ and she could see the electricity dancing along the surface. Lana smiled. Electrified water. That was sure to bring them down.

The Ultra Beasts tried to scream, but they gurgled underwater, a strained shriek of pain that made Lana cringe, and, as the ocean washed away, they twitched under the electricity. All were down. She threw Beast Balls, catching all of them. She turned to the god of the sea. “Kyogre. That. Was. _Epic!!_ You are _so cool!”_

After a moment of excitement, she turned back. More were coming. They were about to get _thrashed._

_-.-.-.-_

Lance slid off his Dragonite’s back, onto the ground. He’d flown onto Ula’ula from above, located the largest cluster of Nihilego, and gone there. The second his feet touched the boardwalk, the monsters all turned to him simultaneously, looming, and for all that Lance was not easy to scare, he couldn’t felt but feel a bit unnerved by them. Ash wasn’t kidding when he said there were a lot. Flying over the island…

He’d seen the destruction. It was impossible for people not to have been hurt by now. He hoped no one had been killed, but that was a foolish hope and one he’d abandoned long ago (before he’d met Ash. After…the boy always seemed to avoid any fatalities (excluding himself, of course). And Lance hadn’t been on Kalos (he’d felt that particular dig, because he looked on the carnage with regret when he saw the footage) but he knew Ash had been there, and that was one of the times Ash just couldn’t do it all. That level of terrorism…there’d been too many deaths.)

The Nihilego, even if they weren’t actively chasing humans, were destructive. Establishments were sizzling, toppled over, and purple acid eating away at their foundation. And there were so many Nihilego— though they did not touch the ground, they trampled all the same. It was a shame.

And it was his duty as a Champion to stop it. Alola didn’t have a Champion. Yes, they had the Kahunas, Lance knew (though not very well) but they didn’t have a Champion, and the absence of a large battling culture marked by the lack of a League meant there weren’t as many citizens as capable of fighting them off. They had yet to implement a force like the G-men in Alola, and now Lance wished he’d pushed for it sooner.

Regardless, he was staring down a horde of malicious Ultra Beasts and it was time to stop thinking and start fighting. He sent out his red Gyrados to join Dragonite already out of his ball.

“Dragonite, Gyrados. We are to battle these enemies. They are not opponents. This is not a battle. This is a defense. Go all out.”

He smiled as they turned towards the threat in front of them. The Nihilego had no idea what was coming.

As he dodged a spray of venom, he laughed and turned to them. “Alright, fighting dirty, aren’t we? Gyrados, Hydro Pump! Dragonite, Hyper Beam!”

A _massive_ pillar of water materialized out of thin air in a swirling torrent, violently crashing onto the Nihilego, while gold and purple energy sizzled and crackled and wove together, a thin line of energy thickening until the blast rivaled the sound of a cannon exploding. Lance, used to the noise, did not flinch. He knew others would have— he’d seen audience members, even in the stands, cringe away from the light and the heat and intensity of Dragonite’s Hyper Beam.

The Nihilego _screeched._ It was an unholy sound, and that _did_ make him cringe, because although he’d never heard the sound before, it sounded half like a screaming, drowning child, gurgling underwater, and half like a broken foghorn.

"Dragonite, Twister! Gyrados, Ice Fang!”

Another epic display of power found quite a few of the Nihilego felled, and there were so many more to go. Lance smiled, exhilarated. The threat elated him, his adrenaline increasing his determination, and he had to laugh just a little. This excitement reminded him of his earlier days, before he became Champion, and his ambitions to be the very best.

It reminded him of another kid.

He was about to launch his Pokemon into another attack when his breath caught in his throat, a _giant_ being flying opposite of him, absolutely _obliterating_ the rest of the Nihilego with its raw power. When his vision finally stopped waning white from the blast, and the ringing in his ears started to die down, he looked closer.

It was _Palkia._ Sinnoh’s-legendary-god-of-space-member-of-the-Creation-Trio Palkia. Here. On Alola.

His hair was singed from the blast and he could smell burnt dust (and burnt _skin._ Was that his or the Nihilego’s?) Lance stared in awe at the massive immortal figure, and for all that he’d had his fair share of legendaries, he had to fight the urge to bow his head in respect (it might have been wise to do just that— the blast hadn’t missed him by all that much, and legendaries were well known for their desire to be honored).

He questioned _why_ for just a second, but not for long. Clearly, Palkia was mad about the invasion of the Nihilego, but Lance had half a mind to wonder if _Ash_ called it here.

He didn’t have the gods on _speed dial,_ right?

Right?

Whether he’d called them there or not, Lance’s fists clenched in frustration and just absolute disbelief at the absurdity of this whole thing. All of it.

But it _was_ real. It was fucking real, because he was staring down the face of the god of space after it blasted and _annihilated_ a horde of extradimensional interdimensionally traveling Ultra Beasts _invading_ an entire region, and he was helping a bunch of _children_ fight against them to save everyone, while the mad scientist who’d created this entire mess was _missing._

_Arceus,_ he was going to need a drink after all this.

-.-.-.-

Elsewhere, on the other side of Ula’ula, Gladion faced off against a different horde of Nihilego, their anger and fear showing through at the sight of the Pokemon created to be their bane. Silvally growled, Umbreon and Lycanroc flanking either side of it, teeth bared and special attacks prepped like loaded cannons waiting for the word of their trainer. Before Gladion could utter a word, though, words crossed his mind, their sick whispery sound burned into his brain as he gasped. _Leave us. Let us explore. Let us take. Let us conquer._

The boy clamped his hands over his ears, shaking his head. How the _hell_ had those creatures found a way into his mind? What _was_ this? Was this what Lusamine had heard when she’d been the Mother Beast?

They were getting smarter. Smarter each time he encountered them— they learned more about humans, and they learned new ways to get under their skin.

They learned by absorbing humans. And then they shared that information, passing it along an invisible link that cumulated in a hive mind.

He didn’t like that. Not at all. He didn’t like the implications.

Gladion shook his head out of his trance and focused on the battle, where his Pokemon started to look back at him curiously and a little concernedly. “Umbreon, Dark Pulse! Silvally, chomp on the Nihilego! Lycanroc, Crunch! Let’s destroy these Ultra Beasts!”

In a glaring display of force, his Pokemon rushed forward and attacked with all they had, the Nihilego countering with their own rush of energy. They entered as much a melee battle as a special attack battle, close-range mixing with distance attacks as the Nihilego swarmed and surrounded him. They spoke into his head again. _Give us. Energy. Stop fighting._

If anything, it made him _angry,_ because Gladion wasn’t a coward and he wasn’t scared (the only thing that could strike fear into his heart now, apparently, was Lusamine herself.) So momentary fear turned to anger in a heartbeat and he yelled. “Lycanroc, let’s finish this!”

He got an affirmative growl in response, and he raised his wrist as he took the position. “Lycanroc, Continental Crush!”

All the stray rocks, and the sand, and the dirt in the area, they all flew up, drawn above Lycanroc like a magnet, until it formed a gigantic boulder hovering over the crowd of Nihilego, some of which had stopped to watch (fools). It floated there for just a moment more, solidifying, its shadow looming, before it _crashed_ down to the ground with so much force Gladion had to fight to stay on his feet.

The boulder remained, before crumbling back into the dirt and pebbles it was made of. The Nihilego were crushed. He threw his Beast Balls before they could get up. He coughed, just a little, on the dusty air, before taking a deep breath and straightening. “Good job, team. Let’s keep going.”

-.-.-.-

Sophocles was tripping over his feet trying to catch up to Mallow, who’d been running after a flock of Nihilego who were on the prowl. They could hear the screams of a few stray citizens left— maybe they hadn’t seen the broadcast, or they’d ignored it— either way, they were in danger, and the Ultra Guardians were going to come save them!

Togedemaru, Lycanroc, and Rowlet were out, although, in the absence of Ash’s backpack, the bird had taken up trying to take a nap on Sophocles’ head, and he was trying to keep him on balance.

Soon enough, though, they were caught up with the Nihilego, and while Mallow went to help the people, Sophocles was frozen for just a second, staring at these beasts. He still remembered the panic at being strangled, feeling as though he was drowning in thick gelatin, trying to scream but he couldn’t.

It was awful. He wasn’t eager to go for a second round, but he pushed through his fear all the same and ordered Togedemaru into an electric attack, which brought the Ultra Beasts’ attention to him. “Okay, Rowlet, time to wake up, now! Use Razor Leaf!”

It wasn’t super effective, but he didn’t need super effective right now, he needed a defense, against the horde he was just starting to see the sheer size of— there were too many, way too many, and his mouth went dry. _How_ were they supposed to fight this?

“Sophocles! It’s okay! We can do this! We’re strong!”

A Rock Throw and Stone Edge from Lycanroc lifted his spirits a little, as the Nihilego screeched in pain (it made both of them cringe, too). Grass and lightning and rock twisted together, slicing, shocking, and bruising their extradimensional enemies. More than once did both Nihilego and Mallow have to dodge out of the way of a stray attack or a Nihilego swooping towards them, but one by one they were thinning the army of beasts.

They hoped— they believed in their friends to find a way to stop all this- find the energy, find out what was going on, and save the world.

They had to do their part, too.

-.-.-.-

At some point, Kukui’d gotten a call from Kahuna Hala, informing him that the Kahunas were each doing their own part to close down their respective islands. It filled him with some relief that at least most of Alola would be safe (he didn’t want to think about the guaranteed fact, at this point, that some people hadn’t gotten out in time. Some people hadn’t been saved.

Damn, he hoped his kids were alright.)

Burnet had been attempting to get her tracking device to work on a larger scale, and though they were limited in their access to equipment, she’d managed to get a read on the signatures of Nihilego, and she could track them. Maybe, if they could learn enough, they’d be able to differentiate the signature of the bait energy from the Nihilego energy, and then trace that to wherever the fuck Lusamine had hidden it.

They had to fight in the meantime, though. They’d done so, each of them trying to get it done quickly, protecting each other and covering their defenses. He couldn’t keep off his unsettled feeling about all this— the feeling that was more than just fear, worry, and concern about the danger, about himself and Burnet and Ash, and his kids, and his Pokemon, and all of Alola. It was more than just that, it was disturbance at all of this, it was the way their faceless eyes could stare into his soul, it was the way that Ash casually called up Champions, it was the way that Gladion had been so insistent that Lusamine had been _provoked_ and the way that Lillie was pulling away, the guilt she’d shown on her face. It was the way _Kyogre_ had shown up and Ash had just accepted it like a normal every day event, how Lana was such close friends with it already.

It was disturbance at _Lusamine._ He’d never liked her, hadn’t trusted her around kids, and hadn’t thought she was a good mother. But he hadn’t thought she was _that_ much of a mad scientist, that she’d put all of Alola in danger, people’s lives at risk, for a stupid experiment— whether on purpose or accident, though he was leaning more towards believing it was intentional with every breath. (He thought, for just a moment, about how Ash, at one point, had expressed his distrust of scientists, after everything that had happened. After Ash had been set off and ran away when Kukui expressed interest in his aura, he’d sheepishly explained that he _really_ didn’t like it when people looked on it scientifically. He wasn’t an _experiment._

And so Lusamine, with all this…

He _really_ didn’t like the way Ash had taken the reigns of leadership with such expertise that Kukui couldn’t read him, couldn’t read his emotions when usually the kid was an open book (or at least seemed to be)).

Kukui should’ve been paying attention. He should’ve. But he wasn't. He wasn't and he paid for it because one second he and Burnet shared a relieved smile as another Nihilego went down, and the next everything was dark and slimy and its tentacles were electric, their stingers burning his skin and he tried to breathe but he couldn’t. He screamed but there was barely any sound, and then his wrist _hurt,_ and though there was barely any light he looked down and it was purple and inflamed and shit the _neurotoxins_ and though he could barely hear Burnet was screaming and he tried to fight it, tried to fight the toxic, evil, invading thoughts, but he couldn’t and he was choking and he was drowning and _goddamnit he should’ve been paying attention._

And then it was too late, because the battle was a losing game and he knew that from the beginning but he’d tried to fight anyway, but their infectious thoughts infected him like poison until it was all he could think and lost sight of where he ended and where the Nihilego began (if he was even there at all).

There was some small part of him that watched, conscious, detached, unable to do anything, but the bigger part of him wasn’t him anymore, it was the Nihilego, and they looked onto Burnet (the love of his life— no, a target, their target, their enemy, a hindrance in their quest to conquer and absorb and she was a source of energy, and—

She was calling out Kukui’s name (who was this Kukui?) and though he couldn’t really hear he _could,_ he could hear everything clear as day (was it day anymore? Was it day or night? It didn’t matter to the Nihilego, whose world was dark and jagged and barren).

For a moment they watched with apathy before suddenly vicious contempt rose within them, such a vile hatred it blackened their soul (what soul?) and they spat out insults toward the foreign, strange woman who was _in their way._

_“Vile human! Leave us alone!”_

“Kukui, please! Remember, I love you! We love each other!”

_“We could never love such a disgusting woman such as you! No living being could ever!”_

She knew, she _knew,_ that it wasn’t him, it wasn’t, and that what he was saying was nothing more than poisonous lies. He couldn’t control himself if he was even aware at all, but…

But when the Parasite switched to more personal pronouns suddenly it was a lot harder to believe they were just deceit.

“ _I never loved you. I could never love you, not a day in my life! You’re not welcome, not anymore!”_

“Kukui, I…”

“ _Did you really think we were in love? How pathetic!”_

It was a lie, it was a lie, it was a lie. It wasn’t real. And seeing him like this hurt, too. He looked like he was in pain, merged with the horrible monster. Burnet blinked to keep the tears at bay. It was _not_ Kukui. The Nihilego were just getting smarter, learning that personal pronouns worked better to hurt. She would not fall for it. She loved him. She knew he loved her. Kukui loved her. He said it, without fail, every day, and she did too.

It couldn’t have been a lie for all this time. Of course it wasn’t.

It still hurt.

Burnet ordered her Munchlax to attack the Parasite. She would try to avoid hurting Kukui, but they’d learned that to defeat the Parasite and to save the victim, they couldn’t hold back.

That reasoning didn’t keep her from cringing, almost crying, because when the Parasite cried out, she heard _his_ voice, a scream in there too. It was awful (but it was good news, wasn’t it, if his voice was a little more distinctive? It meant he was separating.)

“ _I hate you!”_

Burnet couldn’t stop the tears this time, couldn’t stop the pain in her chest at those words, because his voice _was_ more distinctive now, and she could hear it when he said those words, but even though the tears trailed down her face she screamed for Munchlax to give it all he could, to chomp and attack, even as she stared into Kukui’s twisted, discolored face, his eyes empty and blown open, filled with pain.

She shook her head violently. “No, Kukui, you don’t hate me!”

She walked forward, _towards_ the danger that was currently trying to kill her, against her body’s insistence to _flee._ The Parasite stilled, though, and she took it as an indication to continue. “No, you don’t. You love me with all your heart. And I love you. And we agreed that no matter what, we love each other and we will _be there for the other,_ because love is more important than petty squabbles, than life getting in the way! I trust you. I love you, unconditionally, even when you’re merged with a Parasite, even if you say you hate me, and that’s a _lie!”_

She continued forward, step by step, as her voice grew in volume. The Parasite was absolutely still now, staring deep into her, and there was a little more clarity in the trapped Kukui’s eyes.

“We trust each other! So I _trust_ you to break out of this! You’re stronger, and I told you that I’d always be here to help you, so I’m _here,_ and you can’t stop me!”

She was inches away from the Parasite now, unafraid, defiantly staring it down. There was a charged moment of silence, where nothing happened at all, before the Parasite charged an attack to hit her point blank, and though it only took a second, that second felt like an eternity. Within that second, she did several things. She realized the attack was meant to kill, the deadliest sizzling acid-poison headed straight for her face. She ducked, somehow, faster than she thought she could, her body reacting before she’d really even told it to. She looked into Kukui’s eyes and saw the moment they cleared, even as the Nihilego began to attack, he fought, and his hand reached out of the thick rubbery gelatin, covered in slime. She pulled his outstretched arm, reaching for help, and _rolled_ to get both of them out of the way of the incoming attack. She screamed. Munchlax sprang into action, _chomping_ on the soft not-quite-skin of the Nihilego.

Then suddenly, suddenly, time was back to normal and sound returned, and she heard screaming, screaming all around, from her, from the Nihilego, from Kukui, and _growling_ from her partner Pokemon.

She scrambled back, now, pulling Kukui along, who was only half-aware and still half in shock. Finally, finally, with one last ear-grating shriek, the Nihilego was down, and she could _see_ the holes in its blubber from Munchlax’s fangs. She looked back to the man beside her when he started crying, and she took a moment to closer inspect him. His eyes, squinted, were bloodshot, and he was covered in disgusting slime. His arm was an angry red, inflamed and purple at the wrist, and she knew that was from the toxin.

She didn’t have an antivenom— after all, they didn’t even know what the neurotoxin was made from. She hoped it wasn’t deadly.

It wasn’t, right? Lusamine survived. The others who’d been absorbed had survived.

He clung to her, tight, sobbing now, and she hugged him back, not caring about the slime one bit. “Hey, hey, Kukui, it’s alright, look, we’re alright.”

But those words still burned at her heart like a misfired Flamethrower. He shook his head into her shoulder vigorously. “Look, I know things aren’t okay right now. They’re less than okay. But I’m okay, and you’re okay, and we have a job to do. I love you, okay?”

Finally, he looked up and looked into her eyes. “I didn’t mean it, Burnet. I didn’t, I promise.”

“Shh, I know, I know you didn’t mean it.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, so much. I trust you, and look, you pulled through! Now, come on. Let’s keep going.”

His eyes were bleary, filled with tears still, but he took her offered hand and they stood, together, on shaky legs. “Hey. We can do it, together.”

Burnet looked down at her tracker pad, which was a little more busted up, just like they were all a little more worse for wear, and gasped. “Kukui, I—I found it! The tracker’s had enough exposure to the Nihilego, and it can recognize their signatures as separate from the foreign energy now—we can trace it. I have the energy signature right here, and we can follow it.”

He smiled. “Then let’s do it. Together.”

It wasn’t all that far away- two miles, at the most, and it was at the edge of Melemele. They couldn’t tell _what_ it was, but it was the anchor keeping the Nihilego tethered to Earth. Once they removed _that,_ they could lure all of them back to Ultra Space, and they wouldn’t have to keep fighting. They were almost there. Almost there.

Half an hour later found both of them near the spot, and the tracker started beeping as they grew closer. “Alright, alright…”

And then suddenly they were _on_ the spot, but there was _nothing_ here, it was just trees, just grass, and nothing. What…?

One professor turned to another. “Wait, what if…”

Professor Kukui sent out his Lucario, who came out battle-ready, but, finding no immediate threat, looked to the Professor questioning what he was supposed to be doing. “Lucario, there’s supposed to be some sort of energy here. Can you use your aura sense to try and find it? I have the feeling it might be underground.”

The Pokemon put his paw to the ground and closed his eyes, the feelers on his head rising and vibrating. After a moment, he barked, pointing to the ground, and nodded. “There’s something underground?”

A nod. “Something big? Is there a facility?”

Another nod, more eager. Professor Burnet chimed in. “Are there any people down there?”

A nod. “A lot?”

Another nod, and a bark.

Burnet looked to Kukui. “I bet it’s everyone from Aether Paradise— remember, Gladion said that they all went somewhere safe. I bet there’s a safe house down there, or something— a base, maybe.”

She paused. “But why didn’t _I_ know about it? I work there, too, and sure, maybe I’m not involved in Lusamine’s experiments, or Faba’s, but…Aether’s not all evil, right?”

Kukui looked conflicted. That confused him, too, but…

He wasn’t sure to think anymore. “Lucario, is there an entrance?”

Lucario barked an affirmation, then ran over to a nearby tree— particularly wide, compared to the others around, and headbutted into it. On closer inspection, the tree was artificial, and it fell over at Lucario’s attack. Underneath, there was a spiraling staircase deep into a dark hole. It was creepy, but it was the only way down. “After you,” Kukui said to Burnet, just a little jokingly. He didn’t really want to go down. Neither did she, but Lucario had no such reservations, hopping down the steps, and the humans followed.

It was dark, and it was hard not to stumble. After almost ten minute’s descent, and as the dirt steps turned to stone then turned to metal, they were suddenly blinded by light. It was…a mirror of the island Aether Paradise, the same tiles and plants and walls. The only thing missing was the natural light let in through the wide windows. Here, it was artificial and washed out. It reminded both professors of a hospital.

Lucario ran ahead, not caring if anyone was watching, weaving down halls, while the humans carefully ran after him, not able to catch up and trying to hide. Finally, though, finally, they came to a room (and thankfully, they’d managed not to encounter anyone. Lucky break.)

The room was mainly empty, save for a _giant_ glass container, taking up most of the chamber. Lucario turned to it, then to them, and barked excitedly. Both professors came to a screeching halt when they looked at it. They looked to each other, dread filling their hearts. Inside was swirling energy, moving slowly about like a lava lamp, and it cascaded a dreary light onto their faces. It glowed blue.

And they knew _exactly_ what it was.

-.-.-.-

Ash hadn’t meant to get separated. He hadn’t. One moment he’d been fighting the Nihilego that were starting to overwhelm them (not for long, though, Giratina would make sure of that, had so far) and the next he heard Lillie scream, and he whipped his head around to see her, and she was _in a Nihilego_ (since when had she been on his left? She’d been on his right this whole time, right next to Snowy, but he couldn’t really think about that now, not when she was in such clear danger.) Fear pulsed through his veins, colder than ice, because she looked _just like Lusamine_ in the Nihilego. She looked exactly like the Mother Beast, and it was chilling, and then the Parasite had fled, and she _sounded_ just like Lusamine when she said _“Leave me alone!”_

He’d chased after, of course, Pikachu noticing his absence with a squeak and using a Quick Attack to gain the momentum to leap onto his shoulder as Ash ran after the Parasite, because _dammit_ he was _not_ going to let it take his friend. He ran, and he ran, the Parasite calling out, reading Lusamine’s lines word for word as off a script, and he wasn’t sure if he was really on Alola anymore because he didn’t feel the sun, all he felt was cool stale air and all that was in his vision was purple, purple crystals all around, and was this Alola or was this Ultra Space or was this Molly’s castle? He couldn’t tell, and it was all of them and none of them, all that mattered was _chasing Lusami—_ chasing Lillie. All that mattered what chasing Lillie, no matter if he fell off a floating crystal island into the endless purple abyss below, no matter if he was on Solgaleo’s back or not and—

And then suddenly, the Parasite stopped, and it _was_ Alola. He was in Alola, he’d always been on Alola, and dammit he wished Lillie didn’t look so _similar_ to her mother because it was all so confusing and the one thing he couldn’t be right now was confused.

Ash took a fighting stance, his aura burning at his hands, prepped and barely held back, as Pikachu leaped off his shoulder onto the ground in front of him, electricity crackling dangerously out of his cheek pouches.

And then Ash realized he didn’t have Riolu with him. He couldn’t use his aura, not without Riolu, and that leveled the odds in the Parasite’s favor, especially when he took only a second more to notice that no one else was with him, either. It was just him and Pikachu against Lillie trapped in a Nihilego.

Pikachu gave a started cry, suddenly, and Ash ripped his gaze away from his hands, which he’d dropped to his sides, to see…

nothing.

There was _nothing there,_ where the Parasite had been a second ago. There was nothing, no Nihilego, no Lillie, just a vastly, chillingly empty outdoor mall, dark glass windows (which would usually be lit, usually there would be people bustling outside and inside and in between, but there was no one at all.)

Where was Lillie? Where was the Nihilego? Where had they gone?

Were they ever there at all?

A chilling question entered his head, just for a second, and it scared him.

_When had the Nihilego learned to make illusions?_

When had they learned any of this? When had they learned to go after loved ones when someone was a Parasite? When had they learned to start _speaking into someone’s head?_ (That had given Ash a near heart attack.)

How many humans had been absorbed?

It was silent. All was silent, not even a Nihilego here.

Then there was the click-click of heels. Ash snapped his head towards the sound, as it echoed through the silence ominously, and he found the source of it. His blood went cold all over again.

It was _her. Lusamine._ The mad scientist who was behind this whole thing, she was here now, and she click-clicked toward him while he wasted precious seconds on his shock, on his…his _fear,_ fear from the past dredged up by her appearance, fear rooting him to the ground right here, because there was some level of insanity on her face that was _just like all of them._

Just like all of them, and Pikachu must have recognized it too because he looked just about ready to call upon the heavens to _burn her to a crisp_ right then and there.

She looked different, and yet all the same.

She looked different, because though he’d seen it from the very beginning, the _second_ he’d first met her, her desire, it was so much more pronounced now. She looked like she’d been through hell and back, and yet she was so carefully put together, too, barely a hair out of place, and he didn’t know how to rationalize the dichotomy. Her smile was fixed, there as always, but it was _so much worse,_ because her smile was crazier, and tears almost sprung to his eyes as her grin mirrored onto Lysandre’s, up on the tower, and then he _knew_ he was in Alola, he knew, he knew, but he wasn’t, he was in Kalos, somehow, he wasn’t sure, had he been teleported?

He was on Prism Tower, and his feet were on the ground and he was in the middle of a Pokemon battle, but at the same time he was restrained and he couldn’t move and he looked down on an evil, evil man as he smiled right back up at him. It was the same smile, and was Lysandre in Alola? Or was Lusamine in Lumiose?

Her smile widened as his face whitened, as she click-clicked closer, and Pikachu _snarled,_ and he hadn’t snarled like that since Ash had been with Alain, trying to pull him away from the Flare grunts, as he’d just stood there lifelessly, _let Ash_ get attacked (get kidnapped, just like with another woman) Ash hadn’t been all that aware, after he’d been blasted by the move, but he’d heard Pikachu, barely, calling his name, over and over, and snarling at those who dare hurt his trainer, trying to defend him, trying even when he was just as affected as Ash, trying, defending.

Pikachu was snarling like that again, now.

Click-click.

And her eyes. Volatile, green fire burning, manic. This whole time, they’d been an explosion waiting to happen.

They’d exploded, now, with a bang.

And she was a woman on the edge, no, way _fucking past the edge,_ and still he didn’t move, didn’t move, and she click-clicked toward him, and aura was rising all around him, but it hurt, too, because the Ultra Energy was right there without Riolu to help him, and Pikachu’d had enough. He yelled, and a _giant_ crack of lightning struck down from the heavens, Ash’s hair long-standing up on his arms before it came. He finally, finally, could move, and he ran back, and he couldn’t see Lusamine through an ultra-bright glow of yellow, singing his skin.

It landed with a _crack,_ sizzling the Earth, and it took a good minute before Ash could open his eyes again.

She was standing, perfectly unmarred. There was a _massive_ horde of Nihilego, bigger than any he’d fought so far, behind her, like an army flanking their captain. They’d protected her.

They rushed forward, swirling around them as she smiled wider, and click-clicked toward him.

“You’ll see, Ash, that you cannot _mess_ with me. You do not take away what I rightfully deserve, what I _own!_ And you _did.”_

What had he taken?

“It’s _your_ fault. You took her away from me! You, and that _wretched_ boy I used to call a son!”

Oh. _Lillie._

“Now, _I_ am going to mingle with my _Beasties_ now, and you are _not_ going to stop me! In fact…Well. You’ll see in time.”

And wasn’t _that_ ominous.

He finally found his voice. “How did you do it? How did you draw all the Nihilego here? And _why?”_

Her smile, if it were even possible, grew even wider. And, as a Nihilego’s tentacles started to wrap around her, slowly absorbing her, she looked straight into him, her fiery eyes boring into his own. There was an inhuman giggle that erupted from her lips, one more reminiscent of a toddler than a woman such as herself. “Isn’t it obvious?”

What?

“Ash, I couldn’t have done it all without you.”

And suddenly, as he watched the Nihilego absorb the woman, meld with her until they were one being, as the purple infected her, as her blonde hair turned black and her eyes clouded over, her smile growing ever larger, dread arose so cold it froze his heart, froze everything inside of him, suffocating him.

The inkling, that unsettlement he’d felt this whole time, all day, ever since that one night, that he’d been ignoring, arose again in full. Because, he realized.

_Oh._

It _was_ him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think! There's going to be one more chapter of the climax, and then we're going to be pretty close to the ending! (who knows how many words the climax will end up being, though, I'd thought that the whole thing would be 30,000 but I'm at that already and I have the most important part yet to come. Anyways, let me know!


	11. All the Lightning in the Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Nihilego swarmed, and maybe this was what made her take him seriously, stop toying with him, because suddenly one was going in for the kill, tentacles (stinging his already burnt arms) wrapping around him so tight he couldn’t even struggle, and then its slimy body was suffocating him, and he couldn’t breathe through the sticky sludge, and he barely had a voice to yell, and it was awful, awful, because his soul was being sucked out and felt numb, numb to it all, except not, because everything was so concentrated, all the pain, pulling at his heart and his core and it was all the same, all the same, he could smell smoke but there was no fire here, only a burning forest in his mind. His energy was pulled from his body, torn, sucked out, and it was as painful as it was pushing it out back then, and back when he was with Lucario.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw/tw: ptsd, language, mild graphic depictions of violence, blood, burns, death, arguing
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> p.s. another 16,000 word chapter, somehow.

_Shit._

She was here now, looming, and she felt so impossibly large. Nihilego circled him like a school of fish Pokemon, around and around and around until he was dizzy and couldn’t tell which way was up.

She was smiling. It was so _menacing._

Lusamine, strung up like a broken marionette, hung there, suspended in the Nihilego. Her hair was so black it seemed to absorb the sunlight itself, black like Giratina’s shadows. Her eyes _glowed_ green, like poisonous bioluminescent algae he’d seen collected on the shells of water Pokemon kept in overly cramped aquariums, and their strangled looks matched _hers._ The Nihilego (no, _Parasite)_ grew larger, hovering, squishier and stickier and slimier than normal, and although her click-click was gone, the Parasite inched ever closer to him while he stood there, unmoving.

The Nihilego swarmed. Their tentacles touched his cheeks, his hair, just the slightest touch, the stingers barely registering as he stared into her eyes, manic as they were.

Pikachu called to him to snap out of it. The Nihilego were swooping for him now, trying to absorb him, and he gained enough sense to scramble out of the siege, running into their gelatinous bodies. His head whipped wildly around, trying to keep track of all of them and the _creature_ in front of him, neither human nor Pokemon nor Ultra Beast but a monster of the worst kind.

Suddenly, suddenly, all the Nihilego snapped to attention, turning towards the Mother Beast. There was some communication that ran through their hive mind, silent and buzzing, and they all turned to him, slowly, slowly, simultaneously, eyeless faces trained on him and him alone, and he had only that one second of warning and a cry from Pikachu before they all launched into poisonous, acidic attacks aimed straight at him and _dang,_ were they going for the kill?

Pikachu sprung into a counter shield, Thunderbolt arcing out of him as he moved onto his back and spun, both trying to defend and attack. The electricity crackled and zig-zagged through the air, buzzing and flashing, and it was more menacing, more threatening than normal.

Ash wanted to help. He felt helpless. Riolu wasn’t here-!

If Riolu wasn’t here, then fine. He could do it on his own. Even if it hurt, even if it was uncontrolled, he _had_ to, so he would.

As Nihilego swarmed him, again, attacking and swooping, Ash pushed aura (and Ultra Energy) out of his hands. It crackled and fizzled but held. It hurt, though, and twisted with the corrupted energy. It only drew them towards him all the more.

The Mother Beast went on the attack herself, her thick tentacles hitting him like a punch to the face (and that’s what it was.) They stung, and he tried not to cry out, and he spun around, reeling from the blow, the blue-black energy twisting, embers arcing out like uncontrolled flames (like a burning forest), but slowly guided all the same to hit her.

It must have hurt. She screamed (and it wasn’t just the horrid, horrid screech of the Nihilego, but her own human voice as well, distorted and filled with pain, and Ash’s shoulders hunched up to his ears, trying to block out the sound.) It came out with more force than he intended, his own skin _burning_ under extended contact with the corrupted energy. Like putting his hands to a candle, it started warm and quickly grew hot, until it was almost unbearable (although nothing compared to the burns he’d gotten from Charizard, from Infernape—!

He forgave them, though, of course, of _course_ he did.)

As the heat grew unbearable, the energy grew in size and intensity, spreading like wildfire and exploding like a Draco Meteor hitting the floor. Ash’s face was burned. The Mother Beast was more so, one of her tentacles burnt halfway up, black and charred and useless, now.

Yikes. That must have hurt (not that Ash really cared, at all.)

Feeling her anger (it must have been _really_ intense) the Nihilego all screeched their banshee screams in unison as the chorus grew louder than a foghorn, louder than a legendary’s cry, before _launching_ into volley after volley of attack after attack. Glowing purple poisonous spikes sprung from the floor, a few _stabbing_ into his legs (Pikachu, thankfully, balanced on his tail to avoid them) and injecting poison into his bloodstream. The sand from the beach was whipped up in a vicious Sandstorm, spinning and blowing so thick and fast he couldn’t see (he was forced to close his eyes, anyway) and each grain of sand buried itself into his skin like tiny knives. They circled, still, screeching and screeching while Pikachu was vicious with his own attacks, enlarged Electroweb after Electroweb shooting into the sky and plummeting down over the beasts, electrifying them in the masses. Ash, to the best of his ability, used his corrupted aura, but it burned. It burned, and his hands were already turning red, already blistering, but he had to keep going, he had to. The mixed light and dark blue energy (quickly turning black in the presence of the Nihilego) was pushed out in throes, attacking Nihilego after Nihilego, but after every push, he felt a little more exhausted, a little more pushed to the edge. Nihilego were hit with defense after defense. But they kept getting up.

At least, at least, with his eyes closed, Ash could still use his aura to sense where the foreign lifeforms were. He spun, twisting and frantically dodging out of the way of the beasts as they swooped toward him. Pikachu called down lightning from the heavens, the lightning of Zapdos, of Tapu Koko, and Raikou, to _strike down_ the Mother Beast, an absolute beam of pure fucking _energy_ strong enough to vibrate the Earth. It struck the Parasite and her scream, her _scream. Arceus_ it was the _worst fucking thing he’d ever heard._

And the worst part was, she got right back up. Sure, she was missing quite a few of her tentacles, nothing but char, and electric burns littered her body, but she still got up. The air smelled of electrified skin, burnt to a crisp (Ash knew that smell well.) He wasn’t sure _how_ Pikachu had called down that _level_ of electricity, but it was _just_ like the time _Zekrom_ struck him and his buddy in Unova the first _day_ they stepped foot in the region.

The Nihilego were swarming, still, circling like Sharpedo who’d smelled blood. Ash, ignoring his burns (which were spreading to his arms, now) pushed out the corrupted energy (Ultra Aura?) again, to the Mother Beast who _should be fucking dead,_ but he couldn’t control it, couldn’t control it, _damn_ he needed Riolu, because he missed her _entirely,_ instead striking Pikachu, his best buddy in the entire world, who screamed and Ash was running before he realized it and reached him faster than should be humanly possible.

“Pikachu, Pikachu, are you okay? I’m so sorry, buddy, I’m so sorry, please be okay, Pikachu, please!”

There was no response. The tears were starting to come, and they were coming now, and there was a giggle from _her,_ and the Nihilego swarmed ever closer, and he could feel their desire and their anger radiating off them.

Finally, finally, Pikachu’s eyes cracked open and he smiled a tired, goofy little smile, and Ash cried with relief, hugging his partner. If anything had _ever_ happened to him—!

He would—

he would—!

He might just die, right then and there.

If he’d _killed_ Pikachu—!

But he didn’t. He didn’t, Pikachu was fine, shaking it off, somehow still alive even though he shouldn’t be, but he couldn’t worry about that now, because the Nihilego were _on_ his back, touching him, stinging him, and the Mother Beast was _right there,_ in his face, and he scrambled back and fought to his feet, Pikachu defending him, and Ash couldn’t help but draw parallels to the battle up on Hunter J’s ship, because back then it was just him and Pikachu together against an insane woman, and here he was again, trying to wrangle with an unfamiliar energy, exhausted just like before, but he couldn’t focus on that either because he was about to _be absorbed_ if he was not careful.

His hands were burning. 

The Nihilego were swarming.

And he _should’ve_ been dead by now, defeated, or absorbed by the Nihilego, because for all that he and Pikachu were _fighting,_ it was nothing compared to the unbeatable enemy before them and the sheer number of Nihilego, so she was just toying with him, just _toying_ with him like a predator who’d long since caught their prey and was just playing with them and could she _be_ any more similar to J, hunting him and making him exhaust himself just to watch him struggle, making him think he has some chance at winning, some semblance of safety, just to tear it away!?

Her smile was unnaturally, menacingly wide. The Nihilego were swarming.

But _no._ She wasn’t just like J, this wasn’t just like in Sinnoh years ago, because he was stronger now and more experienced and smarter and wiser and she wasn’t as ruthless, she wasn’t, and she wasn’t the same, and he could not be _cowed_ by a weak imitation— a _puppet_ (and strung up like one, too) of that absolute madwoman.

No. Ash would not.

Pikachu yelled, again, his voice deepening into a growl, as his cheeks sparked and crackled and somehow, _somehow,_ his lightning wasn’t yellow anymore, but white and blue-tinged, twisting and zigzagging and growing in intensity and energy and his buddy was _amazing_ because the boom of the incoming strike was so loud Ash had to cover his ears, and his hair was stood straight up (in a sick imitation of Lysandre’s) and the lightning cracked down again, thunder following, and surely, surely, that was a fatal blow?

But no. She was charred, more, and many Nihilego littered the ground, bodies black and scorched. Pikachu looked exhausted now (and had he been blessed by a legendary (more than usual) without Ash noticing? Because that shouldn’t be possible (but then again, it was _Pikachu,_ and Pikachu and Ash were never ones to adhere to the expectations of what was possible or not.)

Her fucking _grin._

The Nihilego swarmed, and maybe _this_ was what made her take him seriously, stop toying with him, because suddenly one _was_ going in for the kill, tentacles (stinging his already burnt arms) wrapping around him so tight he couldn’t even struggle, and then its slimy body was suffocating him, and he couldn’t breathe through the sticky sludge, and he barely had a voice to yell, and it was awful, _awful,_ because his soul was being _sucked out_ and felt numb, numb to it all, except not, because everything was so concentrated, all the pain, pulling at his heart and his core and it was all the same, all the same, he could smell smoke but there was no fire here, only a burning forest in his mind. His energy was pulled from his body, torn, sucked out, and it was as painful as it was pushing it out back then, and back when he was with Lucario.

He was infected by hate and he couldn’t think, couldn’t think, there was nothing but thoughts of intrusive hate and the need to _take_ to _destroy_ this world, like Lysandre’s Mega Evolution Energy (Ash had _come_ to Alola to remind himself of the beauty of the world, remind himself why he gave his life over and over and _over,_ to remind himself that it wasn’t all bad, all hate and destruction and suffering, because he’d _almost_ submitted, almost submitted back in Kalos, and that horrified him. But now he was in Alola and it was just like before, just like before, but he didn’t hate the world! He didn’t hate the world.

Somewhere through the darkness, he heard her giggle once again, which filled him with renewed anger (only feeding the unnatural hate). He was fighting with everything he had, fighting and fighting but he couldn’t help but hate.

Bitter resignation was filling him, just barely, just barely, before he heard it. Another sound made its way through the numbness, through the hate, and it broke the trance with such clarity and sharpness Ash sucked in a deep, deep gasp (but he couldn’t breathe in here, so all he did was choke.)

It was _Pikachu._ Pikachu, just like always, was there to ground him, screaming his name like it was the end of the world (it was) and another sharp, desperate, screech of _“Pikapi!”_ was accentuated with an electric shock (weaker than normal, Ash could tell even in this state).

The clarity was broken when the Nihilego tried to regain control, the neurotoxin pumped extra and invading his mind all over again but no, _no!_ He _refused!_ He was Ash _fucking_ Ketchum, and he would _strike that madwoman down!_

He struggled, struggled, his aura lashing out as much as it could, and the Nihilego encompassing him stopped, not letting him go, but stopped, stopped, and that gave him the chance he needed, because, with a hoarse voice, he _yelled_ and his determination personified, energy (no matter if it was corrupted or not) _burst_ out of him in a perfect sphere, small and growing, quickly, quickly, until it was a giant shockwave, and it _ripped_ the Nihilego away from him, blowing it to the side (he couldn’t tell now, but he wouldn’t be surprised if it had been blasted into smithereens). He dropped to the ground roughly, but managed to keep his eyes open. The shockwave grew, bigger, bigger, letting out a _boom_ so loud everyone across Alola (across the world) must have heard it, and Ash tried to cover his ears but he couldn’t fast enough, and then he could barely hear anymore, that boom echoing still. Absolute destruction followed.

The Nihilego let out an unholy, earsplitting _screech_ as the aura, fiery and dark, blisteringly hot, plowed them down, and they fell in hordes to the floor. As the shockwave reached the establishments around them, a loud crash accentuated the glass _shattering._ All the windows and the doors burst inward, large sharp glass projectiles sailing through the air viciously, quite a few hitting Ash and Pikachu as fast as a bullet. Ash curled in as fast as he could, trying to protect himself, but his arms were still cut, now, and a large shard _sliced_ across his face, on his cheek, narrowly missing his eye. He didn’t flinch.

That wasn’t the only blood, Ash realized as he gingerly put a hand to his ear, which was ringing so loud he couldn’t hear anything else. When his hand came away, it was bleeding.

And worse, and worse, the effects of the shockwave didn’t stop. He smelled smoke, for real this time, and he looked and there were a couple fires, small but quickly growing.

The Mother Beast was giggling, somehow _still standing._ How-?!

Ash fought to his feet, blood trickling down his face, hands and arms burnt and shredded, face singed. Slime and sand mixed together into thick sludgy mud. He could barely see, and he faltered as he went to stand, more exhausted than he’d been in a while, more exhausted than after the _first_ time he’d fought the Mother Beast. Pikachu somehow managed the strength to hop onto his shoulder, gingerly, leaning over to lick the cut. Ash looked over at his best friend in the whole wide world and smiled, briefly.

He turned his attention back to the Mother Beast, who looked surprised— she’d underestimated him for sure, but he’d underestimated her as well. But even though her army was gone, she was still able to fight, and she looked much angrier now. Her eyes reflected the quickly spreading fire.

Ash looked to Pikachu once more, and they shared a nod. It was time to _fight_ and fucking _obliterate_ this bitch.

Ash’s anger arose and with it, the aura did too, and for a second, for a second, he was afraid of it, worried that being this emotionally charged he would hurt Pikachu once again, but when he tapped into it he found it much easier to control. Maybe the Nihilego had sucked the Ultra Energy, made he’d learned how to control it through practice and sheer fucking determination, but it set a smile on his face.

“You know, Lusamine, you’re gonna have to try a little harder than that to kill me!”

Because, because, he knew it now. She’d wanted to get a Nihilego to control him, for sure, because she believed he’d be an asset in her (her what? conquest?) but when he’d shown that he would _not_ be controlled, when he and Pikachu had absolutely annihilated the rest of her Nihilego, she didn’t want to control him anymore. She didn’t want him _alive_ anymore.

She was going to try her damndest to kill him (for good).

He stepped forward, sweeping his (bleeding, burned) arm dramatically to the side. “I’m not gonna be defeated by you! I’ve _died_ before, from much worse than you! I will _stop_ your delusional mission to— to destroy Alola? Is that your goal?”

He took a deep breath, and then a wry, determined smile made its way onto his face. “Prepare to _lose,_ Lusamine.”

The Mother Beast _snarled,_ her few non-charred tentacles swooping for him, poison shooting out of them, and Ash stepped to the side, the acid sailing by his ear, barely missing him. “Pikachu? Up to you, bud, fight with all you’ve got!”

Pikachu smiled, and with that, Ash took a deep breath and decided. Lusamine wanted a fight? She would _get_ a fight. He’d been training, and he’d wanted to try this out in a battle for a while.

Hopefully he’d mastered it.

Dodging another blow from her, he closed his eyes and breathed, in and out, letting the aura flow out of him, barely even struggling with control anymore, thinning out into a platform. He took another breath, in and out, and the glowing blue dimmed, until it was barely a sheen, catching the sunlight just so, and he leaped onto it. He made another, running up them like stairs, and he looked down at his feet. It looked like he was _flying._ “Okay, Lusamine,” he muttered to himself, “let’s see how good you are when you can’t _see_ the attack.”

He closed his eyes, sensing her there, and sensing Pikachu, and formed two more platforms, vertical this time, on each side of the Mother Beast. He pushed his hands together and the two walls crashed toward each other like magnets, catching her in the middle and he could _see_ how the gelatin _squished_ together, rippling, and he heard her gasp in pain, looking around wildly. He smiled. 

Could he do an aura sphere like that?

Couldn’t hurt to try!

He tried, and this was different, a little harder, because it wasn’t as thin as a barrier, and he managed to get it almost translucent— he could still see it if he focused, but hopefully she’d be too distracted to be looking. He sent one, sailing straight to the Parasite’s head, and _man,_ that had to hurt, because he’d put a lot of force around it, and she looked around wildly, again, before she focused on him and the glowing green irises _bored_ into his own, eyes narrowing threateningly, before launching her whole body at him faster than should be possible, faster than Pikachu’s Quick Attack, and he didn’t have the time to react before he was pushed off the platform, and he was falling now, falling, but he made another platform right before he hit the floor, and it still hurt, but it hurt less, at least, and then he was up again, staring defiantly at her, aura flowing freely out of his hands as he went to _punch_ her (because she was making him angry).

The Mother Beast snarled and pulled away from him, and his momentum carried him straight into the floor, ungracefully falling on his face (and _man,_ just when he was feeling epic he had to go ruin it with a face plant, there was nothing more Ash than that). Thankfully, thankfully, in the precious few seconds he took to get up, seconds where she could have gone in for the kill, Pikachu had his back, striking with a Thunderbolt that had the Mother Beast turning to the mouse instead. He used a Quick Attack to zig-zag around her, and as fast as she was, Pikachu was _much,_ much faster, always, and she was disoriented, twisting back and forth and back and forth, trying to follow his motions.

That was before she got lucky and her tentacles wrapped around him, and he struggled, striking her with a Thunderbolt, but it didn’t matter, and she spit out “ _Rat!”_ (which made Ash angry, because Pikachu was a _mouse,_ not a _rat,_ and whenever the bad guys called him that it made Ash extra angry.) The tentacle tightened, twisting more around him, and Pikachu squeaked before the jelly covered his head, and then he was choking, and he couldn’t breathe, and he struggled but it wasn’t any good, but Ash wasn’t going to let Pikachu _die!_ He’d survived Ash’s accidental strike, and he was going to survive this, so Ash brought his aura from the ground right under her, like her Toxic Spikes, and then she was reeling back and she let Pikachu go, the mouse falling to the ground in a heap, soaked and panting.

Ash rushed over to him, holding him close, petting him, murmuring. “Come on, buddy, please be okay, I’m here. Don’t worry, Pikachu, I’m here, you’re okay!”

Pikachu was okay, but he probably couldn’t fight anymore, not after everything, and he tried to struggle out of Ash’s arms and even though Ash was always one to believe in his Pokemon, let them fight if they believed they could, he knew Pikachu couldn’t go on and he was only forcing himself for Ash’s sake, and that wasn’t safe (not that any of this was) so Ash hugged him tighter (but not too tight).

“No, Pikachu, you don’t need to fight anymore. This has gone on for too long, and I’m gonna finish this once and for all. Stay, and rest. Everything will be okay.”

He created an aura platform, gingerly setting Pikachu on it and petting him one more time before, with a flick of his hand, the platform went up and up, far above the ground. Ash created one for himself, (invisible, because why the hell not) and pushed his own up high while the Mother Beast finally regained control of herself, launching towards him, but he was ready this time, and he was faster. The ground was further and further from him, as he went up and up, and everything was burning and everything was starting to hurt, adrenaline wearing off, but it couldn’t, not quite yet, but almost, almost.

Once he was at a safe height, matching Pikachu’s, he looked down to Lusamine one last time. “Lusamine, you’ve gone too far. I’m always, _always_ willing to forgive, to give mercy, but you’ve gone _too_ far. People have _died,_ today, I’m sure of it, and I won’t _stand_ for that!”

She’d been listening to him monologue (for some stupid reason, the villains always paused to monologue before attacking and always let him give his speech before attacking, too). But when he was finished, she snarled and tried to go on the offensive.

He wasn’t so foolish, though. As she tried to reach him, she hit an invisible barrier, holding her trapped in a dome, and _anger_ broke out on her face (he was _not_ scared speechless, this time, by the absolute madness in her gaze). His energy turned dark, again, but it wasn’t uncontrolled, no. The Nihilego had _given_ him this corruption. He was simply giving it back.

The invisible dome turned _black,_ and he couldn’t see her anymore, but he put absolutely _everything_ in him into this, the aura turning hot, again, burning, and it imploded with a boom in a reverse shockwave, and maybe she screamed, maybe she didn’t, but as soon as the aura shrunk into a sphere, it _exploded_ out, again, larger and larger, casting shadows like Giratina’s attack, and Ash felt the heat on his face like fire.

There was silence as everything fell away.

The buckling of his knees was all the warning he got before his own platform dissolved, suddenly, and he _leaped_ across the divide to Pikachu, hugging him with _everything_ he had, because if Ash was going to die after all this by a _fall,_ he could die saving his best buddy’s life.

He closed his eyes, tightly, as the ground hurtled towards them, barely keeping conscious (would it be better for him if he blacked out before he died?) But, but, before he hit the ground, before he was crushed on impact, he unceremoniously landed on something not rock-hard, but scaly, and he opened his eyes, gingerly, after a second, and the exhaustion receded as elation filled him.

_Giratina saved him._

Lillie was on his back, too, and she cried out and rushed to Ash, and he looked to her, but he could barely keep his eyes open and she was fading away and she was touching him, trying to help him, but he couldn’t see anything anymore, and the last thing he saw was Pikachu’s yellow (slimy, dirty, _bloody)_ fur before he saw nothing at all.

-.-.-.-

An anxious assistant was the first thing that greeted Professor Oak in the morning before he’d even had his coffee. With another glance at the worried young man, Oak ran and hand down his face and groaned. This looked like it couldn’t wait for coffee. “What is it, Tracey?”

“Professor, Ash called at two in the morning. It was urgent. He said something big was happening, and asked for Riolu, so I transferred him over. But I just turned on the news. Look.”

He unpaused the TV, which Oak had yet to look at, but when he did, he leaned forward just as anxiously, coffee forgotten. The news anchor had been paused in the middle of her sentence, but when Tracey turned the volume up, he heard. “…citizens have been told to stay inside, while authorities handle the matter, but it’s not looking good. Ultra Beasts are rampaging, swarming the streets!”

The screen panned away from the (suspiciously familiar) woman and focused down on the streets below, white jelly-like beasts (were they Pokemon?) traveling in packs. The camera turned, and further away they could see a small group, though not many details. It wasn’t adults, though, they were too short for that, and the people were using their Pokemon to fight the beasts. Oak’s blood went cold as another shot of the _number_ of the beasts was shown across the scene.

“We are broadcasting this to other regions because we believe it necessary to be televised, and as many people can get this information, the better. Alola needs help, people of the world. This is a _crisis.”_

And the choice of words, the choice of words, reminded Oak too much of the Kalos Crisis. Everyone had watched with horror at the destruction in that far-off region. “Professor, do you know what those— those Ultra Beasts are?”

Oak scowled. “I never got the chance to research them myself, them being an Alolan phenomenon, but on my past visits with Samson, I would confer with the scientists of— oh, what were they called—Aether Paradise! And they were terribly vague, but they’re not from this dimension. And there have never been this many before.”

He looked toward the professor, tension in his brows and worry in his eyes. “Ash said he _knew_ something bad was going to happen today, and when _Ash_ says it you know it’s true. I’ll bet you more than anything he’s in the middle of all this.”

Oak sighed. “I’m afraid you might be right, Tracey, knowing that boy he most certainly is. And knowing that boy, he’s going to get in over his head. He’s going to need all the help he can get.”

Tracey caught his drift. “You want to send Pokemon over?”

A nod. “How many?”

“As many as possible.”

“But, professor, what about the 6 Pokemon limit?”

Oak crossed to the computer, sitting down in the chair with a sigh. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, my boy, and these are desperate times.”

“Should I get Bulbasaur to round up all of Ash’s Pokemon and ask who wants to go?”

“Yes, Tracey, please do, and I’m going to make a phone call while you’re at it.”

Tracey lingered. “Professor, Ash very specifically requested that we didn’t—“

“I’m not calling Delia.”

And that was as much a command to get out than any, so Tracey made his way to the ranch as fast as he could.

Oak dialed, waiting anxiously for the receiver to pick up. Finally, a woman with spiky green hair picked up, a little disheveled and annoyed. “Hello, Professor Oak. Nice to see you. What do you need this early?”

“Liza, it’s nine in the morning, and it’s urgent. I need you to send Ash’s Charizard to Alola.”

“What? Ash’s Charizard? Why?”

“Because the boy is in the middle of a disastrous crisis, and I know that if you show Charizard the news on channel—“

He looked back to the TV. “—channel 6, he’ll be rushing over there to help.”

He waited as she turned on the news, and a few minutes later, she turned back to the camera with shock on her face. “What _are_ those?”

“They’re something Ash really needs help defeating, so please send his Charizard.”

With a parting promise that she would, she ended the call and Oak sank back in his seat, sighing, but only for a minute before Tracey came rushing back in, out of breath. “Lots of Ash’s Pokemon want to come, Professor, I’ll get their balls and we’ll transfer them over to where he’s staying. We need to contact him or Professor Kukui so that they know.”

“I’ll contact Ash first, and if he doesn’t pick up, then the Professor, please ready the Pokemon.”

Oak rang Ash, and there was nothing but his voicemail (cheery as ever, with Pikachu chiming in and the electronic voice of his Rotom Dex in the background). The Professor tried again. Nothing. Once more, and nothing again, before he went to call the Professor. 

No response there, either, but he left a voicemail.

Tracey was ready with the balls.

Usually, when transferring, both sides had to have the machines on, but there was a manual override feature to be used in emergencies where the power was out or a Pokemon was desperately needed.

Ball after ball was fed into the machine, Tracey naming out each one, and this, at least, made Oak smile. Ash had so many Pokemon that were willing to come to the rescue. It spoke to the boy’s care and trust and reciprocation of both across all his teams.

When, finally, the last ball disappeared with a buzz, both of them sighed. Now, it was up to Ash to use the Pokemon.

-.-.-.-

Somewhere, a gasp rang out, as a television was turned on. A girl with red hair watched closely, before pulling out her phone and frantically calling a friend.

When a groggy voice picked up (she could tell he’d pulled an all-nighter. Med school was rough on him) she didn’t wait for a second before shouting “Brock, turn on the news right now!”

As he did, she continued to speak. “You know, Ash and I talked just the other day, and he seemed weird. He mentioned how he’d been dealing with this psycho woman in Alola, and how he was worried that she was going to do something crazy— even though she’d already done some pretty terrible things. I was worried, but we know better than anyone that he has the experience to handle this, but—“

“—Misty.”

“What?”

“I don’t think he’s okay as he seems. After Kalos…”

A pause.

“After getting _second place_ — and just barely losing! In a League, he suddenly goes to _school,_ stays in a house with a _guardian,_ in a region with no League. He told me he was ready for a vacation, but…I don’t think he’s getting the vacation he envisioned, with all this.”

Misty knew, of course she knew— she and Brock had talked about it before, when Ash went radio silent on both of them for a while. She took a deep breath. “I know. But I think he’s really strong. I think that he can save the world here, just like he’s done before, and he has Pikachu by his side! Anyway, after all this, if he needs anything, we’re there in a heartbeat. We’ll always be here for him. He’ll be fine.”

Brock made another concerned sound, before agreeing. “You’re right, and I can’t help but worry. But there’s nothing we can do, not right now. We just have to believe in him from afar.”

-.-.-.-

Somewhere else, a phone rang. 

It went unnoticed and unanswered. 

-.-.-.-

A long beep rang out. 

There was silence. 

Suddenly, with another beep, a Pokeball appeared. 

No one noticed. 

Then, another. And another. And another. Beep after beep after beep, ball after ball after ball materializing out of thin air. They rolled out of the machine, and a hiss and a pop accentuated the bright red light and a Pokemon was out. So was another. So was another. 

Now, they collectively decided. Now was the time to _find Ash._

-.-.-.-

The Professors looked to each other, urgently. They had to tell Ash. If this was _his_ aura, then Lusamine had stolen it— somehow— and.

“ _Oh._ ”

“What, Kukui, what is it?”

“How could I have been so stupid, it was all right in front of me!”

“What was, honey?”

“That night— when the kids fought all those Ultra Beasts, and Lusamine was there. She told Ash that he needed to use his aura, and he seemed really hesitant about it, but he did it anyway. And I told you that it all felt too manufactured. I think that she had some sort of energy absorption device set up, so she could take his aura when he used it on the Ultra Beast because she was _planning for this!”_

A look of understanding and then fear showed on Burnet’s face, and she nodded. “I think you’re right. We have to tell him! Then we should disable this, somehow, if we can.”

Kukui pulled out his phone and dialed the first number on it— Ash (Burnet was second). It rang and rang, and anxiety rose in him with each ring that went unanswered, before finally, finally, the call picked up.

-.-.-.-

Ash wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t responding, and he most certainly was asleep (unconscious, her brain said, but that sounded scary, and asleep sounded better). Giratina was still flying, and she was really worried, because it had been at least ten minutes now, and Ash should have woken up (or at least stirred. Pikachu wasn’t responsive either.)

She’d surveyed the damage as they’d flown over where Ash was. Whatever he’d been doing here, it must have been a _really_ big battle, because this shopping center was absolutely _destroyed._ All the windows were shattered, Nihilego bodies _littered_ the ground, and there were _so many._ They were all black, half turned to char. There were raging fires around the area.

Suddenly, there was a buzzing. She ignored it, at first, too focused, before she finally paid attention. It wasn’t her phone, which meant it must have been Ash’s. She tried to find it, locating it in his front pocket (which was hard to get to, considering he was curled around Pikachu).

The phone was in rough shape. The front screen was absolutely _shattered,_ and she wasn’t sure if it would even work. She pressed frantically at the screen, trying to hit the answer button (the glass was cutting her fingers) and she finally hit it, putting the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“ _Ash_ —hey Lillie, is that you?”

“Professor, yes, it’s me.”

“Where’s Ash?”

She winced. She wasn’t sure if he’d be all that pleased to hear. “Ash can’t really talk right now, Professor. I can, and if you’d like, I’ll let him know what you have to say as soon as he is available.”

Kukui caught on quick, too quick. “Lillie,” he began dangerously (there was an edge to his voice that she’d never heard before, and he must have been really worried), “ _what happened to Ash?”_

She winced again, and he could hear it this time, and she knew that now was _not_ the time to blow off the man— not now. As she took a breath, she heard a slight echo, and Lillie knew she’d been put on speaker. She told him, everything spilling out. She told him about how he was separated from their group somehow— one moment he was right next to her, fighting, the next he was gone. Originally, she’d thought he was just in the middle of the battle, but Pikachu was gone, too, and then Giratina got all anxious for Ash (Kukui paused her, for a moment, in her story. “Wait, wait, Lillie, _what_ did you say? _Giratina?!_ The _legendary god of the Distortion World?”_

“Yeah!” She’d replied, far too nonchalantly for her teacher’s taste. Because of course, right? Legendaries were coming out of the woodwork now, just like a normal day (a normal day with Ash, at least)).

She told him how she’d hopped on Giratina’s back and they’d went to search for Ash, and when they found him, he was finishing a big fight, and he was _flying_ somehow, as was Pikachu (she was going to ask him about that as soon as he woke up). Right as they arrived, however, Ash and Pikachu fell (she refrained from telling Kukui that, had they not been there to catch him, Ash would’ve died from that height). Giratina rescued them, but Ash fainted as soon as they did, and he was covered in dirt and slime and bruises and burns and cuts and blood— both of them were.

She told him about the Nihilego bodies, and the fire, and how Giratina had used Rain Dance to put them out. (Kukui couldn’t get over it. _Giratina!!)_

There was silence on the end of the line, for far too long, while Lillie sat, looking down at her friend who _still_ hadn’t woken up. In fact, maybe his breath was even _more_ ragged than before. Finally, finally, he spoke. His voice was shaking. “Thank you, Lillie, for telling me. _Please,_ keep Ash safe. We’ll find out what happened later. But Burnet and I needed to tell him— and you— something important. We found the energy.”

“The energy? That drew the Nihilego here?”

“Yes. And…it’s aura. _Ash’s_ aura.”

Lillie hugged her knees a little tighter, looking down at her friend once more. She’d sort of had the idea in the back of her mind, knowing how much Lusamine had pushed for it, back when they were first trying to open the wormhole. But Lusamine had _stolen_ it without him even realizing, and that was scary. “Umm— Professor, I’ll let Ash know when he wakes up, but if you want everyone else to know, Ash’s phone is really messed up and I could barely even use it, so it might be a good idea for you to call them.”

Kukui thanked her, wished her (and Ash) luck, and said goodbye. She lowered the phone, looking down at the boy in front of her.

She hoped he would wake up soon.

-.-.-.-

It was only after he ended the call did he let his composure fall, tears falling, as he leaned deeply into Burnet. “I knew it, I knew he was going to be in danger, and I wasn’t _there_ for him! I promised, Burnet, I promised Delia that I would look after Ash, I promised his friends— Brock and Misty— and yet I _wasn’t there!_ ”

She wasn’t doing much better herself, deeply disturbed by the news. “Hey, Kukui, hey, it’s not your fault. We’re doing our part—we’re here! And you heard Lillie, he had others there, but he was separated. And as much as it sucks, as much as we _need_ to know what happened and we need to be there for him, he’s alive, and maybe not fully okay, but he’s going to be okay. And next time, next time, you’ll be there for him! Now, we need to let the others know, and then we’re going to be badasses and _destroy_ this energy machine! You okay, honey?”

He looked up at her, finally, and nodded. He would be there, next time. He was gonna _be there_ for his kid.

They texted everyone they could, letting them know, before turning back to the machine (it was a wonder no one had walked in on them yet, but he supposed that, if Gladion had told them that everyone else wanted nothing to do with her experiment, they’d stay away from the energy (if they even knew it was here at all).

Burnet looked to Lucario. “Hey, Lucario, you think you can destroy this machine? Help us let the aura free!”

The Pokemon barked an affirmation, before using Close Combat on the glass (and it was strong glass, that was for sure, but Lucario was stronger) and after a couple rounds, a _large_ crack snaked up the glass, before branching out like a snowflake. One more hit and it all shattered, and the Professors had been smart enough to stand back out of the danger zone.

With nothing holding it back, the aura flowed out in wisps, curling like smoke. It swirled around the two humans, and they smiled, the energy so incredibly _Ash_ that it hurt. Much of it was naturally drawn to Lucario, who was able to conduct and guide away what he couldn’t absorb himself. They all watched as the glowing blue drifted away like a cloud, peaceful.

After the last of it disappeared, they smiled at each other, clear relief showing on their faces. It was almost over; time for the final phase—releasing and drawing the Nihilego back to Ultra Space.

-.-.-.-

Kukui hoped they’d seen the message about the aura, and to reconvene on Melemele as soon as possible. It was time to open a wormhole and send the Nihilego back where they came. (He was a little concerned about reaching the Champions— Kiawe could tell Cynthia, but he wasn’t sure how to contact Lance, if Ash’s phone was broken (because Ash _could_ contact _Lance,_ the Dragon Master, the Champion) but maybe Cynthia could contact him.)

It was an anxious wait as the professors made their way back to the school, the meeting ground they’d used as a sort of base since this morning (was it really only _this morning?_ It felt like so much longer). It took a while to get there, and even longer for anyone to show up— it took some time to travel between islands— but soon he saw Giratina ( _Giratina!!)_ in the distance, and he knew that must be Ash. Not far off, too, was Tapu Koko (he could barely make it out) and there were a couple Pokemon along for the ride, too. (There were so many legendaries— more than he’d seen in years, and it was all today!)

This boy was going to be the death of him.

-.-.-.-

A stir and a groan broke the long silence that had stretched. Lillie looked down, anxiously, at Ash, who seemed to _finally_ be waking up (it’d been way too long). Even as he started to open his eyes, he looked _awful,_ exhausted, like death had warmed over. He looked around, wildly, not sure where he was. He was panicking, and Lillie was about to spring into action when he relaxed immediately as his gaze landed on Pikachu in his arms (who, probably by the commotion Ash had been causing (he’d been squirming) was starting to stir as well.)

“Hey, Ash, you alright?”

He looked to her, startled, and then smiled, trying to sit up. “Hey, Lillie. How…how long was I out?”

“About forty-five minutes or so. We’re almost to the school.”

He didn’t look concerned at all about the time, but confused about their location. “The school? Why are we going there?”

She explained how Kukui and Burnet had found the energy— and it was _his_ aura— and that now they were going to send the Nihilego back to Ultra Space. He looked guilty, but not shocked at all— like he’d already figured it out (maybe he had). After a moment’s hesitation, Lillie looked to him questioningly. “Hey, Ash…back there, it all looked pretty bad? What happened? It was a big battle.”

Ash made eye contact with Pikachu, hesitating. He wasn’t sure whether he should just come out and say it— Lusamine was Lillie’s biological mother, and she’d only recently (last night) separated from her, so it would probably hurt. But Lillie had been honest with him, and he owed it to her, so he took a breath and began.

He told her about the illusion, about how the Nihilego were scarily smart and getting smarter every second, how _Lusamine_ was there, waiting for him, and how _scary_ she was (he didn’t go into detail about _how_ scary it was, and exactly _why,_ because he wasn’t about to go sharing his life story— he just didn’t do that. Not anymore.) How Pikachu had fought, struck her with lightning, but it had just done nothing, how a Nihilego tried to absorb him, how he broke free and struggled with using aura without Riolu. (She asked about his burns. He told her it was the corrupt aura.) How the glass shattered, how he’d used aura, how _epic_ it all was, and how, even through the terror and chaos, he had to appreciate a good battle, right by his best buddy’s side. He told her about _obliterating_ the Nihilego, but how Lusamine just kept standing, how she was going for the kill, how she (and _he_ ) had almost killed Pikachu. About what he did, right at the end. About how he was _sure_ that she was dead.

He didn’t tell her that he didn’t regret it.

Lillie…looked off to the side, after hearing about Lusamine’s death, and Ash felt bad, because that _had_ to hurt— even though it obviously wasn’t the same in his case, and even if he’d never actually gotten to know his dad, he’d feel…confused, and angry, and a whole mess of emotions if his friend murdered (could it really be called self-defense, in this case? (yes (no))) his missing father.

Finally, finally, Lillie looked back, and there were tears in her eyes, but she was smiling, sadly, and he wasn’t sure if she was sad about Lusamine or about him (he was fine, though, she shouldn’t be sad about him) so he reached forward around Pikachu to hold her hands, carefully, looking into her eyes. “Lillie, I know today is really hard. Like, really _really_ hard. But it’s almost done. The battle’s almost over. Lusamine can’t hurt us anymore.” (Not like Lysandre, who came back from death- Ash had _watched_ him commit suicide! (Like Cyrus)).

Lillie leaned forward, abruptly, hugging him as tight as she could, as she started to cry a little harder, and he did too, just a little bit, holding most of it back because it wasn’t over yet, and he wouldn’t _allow_ himself to feel any of the dread, any of the fear or anger or sadness of horror or _anything_ until after it was all over and the villains were gone and the heroes had won and he was all alone with no one around to keep up the mask for.

Giratina cooed, and he looked down at the beast, who they were still riding, and smiled, still holding onto Lillie. “Thank you, Giratina. You’re amazing. You saved our lives.”

He loved his friends. They were going to be okay.

A minute later, Giratina made another noise, and Ash saw figures on the ground, and he could recognize it as Kukui and Burnet, and he could recognize this shoreline and they were _here._

Time to paste on that smile and keep going. Never give up until it’s over.

-.-.-.-

They landed, and as soon as they did, the professors were rushing towards them (once they got over their initial fear of Giratina). Both of them checked over Lillie quickly, before coming to Ash, and though he loved them, he felt suffocated, and he hated that they were doing this, Ash hated how Kukui looked so sad, because if they did it any longer he was going to be forced to _face_ everything, to face his emotions and exhaustion at all this, and he couldn’t handle that, couldn’t handle that, not until the battle was well and truly over, so he shrugged them off (tried to. He didn’t have as much strength as he thought and he barely moved his shoulder at all.)

“Ash, hey, Ash, are you okay? How are you?”

He looked away (the sand was very interesting) and answered “I’m fine. It looks worse than it is.”

Lillie looked at him dangerously, incredulously, because she’d _heard_ the story, he knew she’d _told_ the professors, so why did he even _think_ he could deflect?

“Ash,” Burnet started, kindly, patiently ( _pityingly),_ “please? We just want to help you. What happened?”

He looked into her eyes, for a moment, avoiding Kukui’s gaze, before speaking again. “Not a lot. Pikachu and I battled Lusamine. She was tough. We won.”

Their eyes widened— Lillie hadn’t gotten the chance to tell them it was Lusamine, and he was sure that with the other context clues they’d be imagining harrowing battles where he was battered around and traumatized and _hurt_ (which, not far off, _really,_ but they would imagine he couldn’t handle it, but he could, he’d had _much_ worse, they _knew_ that). Pikachu crooned from his lap, barely conscious and in _much_ worse shape than Ash was, so they should be focusing on Pikachu, and so he finally looked up for a longer period (only at Burnet. He couldn’t handle Kukui right now) with cold, hardened eyes (he’d never done that to her before, not to anyone he cared about in Alola. His friends had always been scared, put off by his forever-warm gaze turning colder than ice— with the need to intimidate, with fury, or— (well, Brock had seen it the most out of any of his friends. He’d been there the longest, seen Ash beyond fury at the villains, and scared, and everything in between. But only Pikachu, only Pikachu had seen Ash’s eyes empty, cold with death.))

Professor Burnet pulled back, only slightly, in surprise, but Kukui cut right through (he recognized this. Maybe Ash hadn’t done this all that much before, but other students had. It was when they were hurting the most when they put up the scariest masks. And if Ash was doing it now…) His voice filled with concern, he started “Ash. There’s more to this. You’re hurt, badly. We need you to work with us so we can help you—“

And suddenly, and suddenly, Ash’d had enough (he was rarely this quick to burst. Maybe it _was_ worse than he thought…no, _no._ He was _fine._ He had to get through this, all of this, only then could he confront this, _alone_ (Pikachu didn’t count when he said he was alone.)). “— _What_ is there to help? I _said_ I’m _fine. End of story._ Now, _Pikachu_ is hurt much worse than I am, and he needs help now, because he almost died _twice_ ” (his voice cracked, memory of his best friend almost dying (again) at his own hands) “and we need to help him, and we need to get this _whole thing over with!”_

But, but, maybe Kukui had been through a lot today too, because he responded with just as much anger. “ _Ash._ You always, _always_ put everyone’s needs before your own! Don’t you understand people _care_ about you?! You’re _hurt_ and you need help and Pikachu does too but you keep brushing us off and ignoring us whenever you’re hurt and you’re not supposed to do that! We’re _here_ for you, and you can’t _hide_ like this, because if you never tell anyone and just _spring_ into danger, you’re gonna be alone like you were today and next time you might not be so lucky to escape alive. Giratina— _Giratina, the god!—_ saved you from— Lillie didn’t tell us how high, but with the way she sounded, it was high enough for you to die if they weren’t there in time! You’re going to get yourself _killed,_ Ash!”

And, and, Ash hadn’t told him everything, he hadn’t, he hadn’t, he didn’t _want_ to, but it was tumbling out before he could think about what he was saying because Kukui didn’t _understand_ — “I’ve died already! I don’t care anymore! I have the fu—“ (and he was at least smart enough not to curse in _front_ of his temporary guardian and teacher) “freaking _gods_ here to keep me from _staying_ dead because they need me alive so I don’t _care_ if I die, because I’m _fine_ and I’ve dealt with this _all_ before, and _Pikachu_ needs help _now!”_

There was shocked silence by everyone there, and as the last of the echoes of his yells died away, blowing with the sand on the breeze, no one spoke. Ash realized his mistake (he’d fucked up, big time). And then, and then, Tapu Koko was there, Riolu on his back (and Torracat) and Riolu immediately hopped off, rushing to Ash, and he was distracted from their spat when his lap was full of _two_ Pokemon, now, Riolu carefully not hurting Pikachu, as he fussed over both of them. His words were in Ash’s head, concerned, angry, sad, confused, relieved, rushing over him like a waterfall, cool and sopping. His aura flowed out of him, some, replenishing some of Ash’s severely depleted supply, and he instantly felt better. At Ash’s indication, Riolu helped push some into Pikachu, and while he couldn’t really _heal,_ not in the same way, he could help him stand on his own feet and feel better, so he could push through until he could be healed for real.

Koko chirruped. The humans were still silent, eyes wide, watching Ash smile as he interacted with the Pokemon (Giratina turned his head to nuzzle Ash as he stood unsteadily on the sand). Ash turned back to the adults (Lillie sat, still, awkwardly), took a deep breath, and began. “Please, can we not deal with this right now? Later. We need to start returning the Nihilego.”

They agreed, then, tension still tight but settling, a little. They waited, sitting on the sand, Ash petting Pikachu and Riolu and Torracat, starting to relax finally, when the others started arriving, one after the other. First was Sophocles and Mallow, then Cynthia and Kiawe, both looking exhausted, then Lana and Kyogre, then Lance, and then, finally, Gladion, both hauling big loads of Beast Balls. Ash forced himself to stand, trying to ignore Lance absolutely _losing it_ about Giratina and Tapu Koko (and Ash wouldn’t be surprised if he’d seen some of the others). As he stumbled on his feet, once again ( _damn_ his stupid exhaustion, he couldn’t seem weak, not in front of the others, he already had enough people needlessly worrying, he didn’t need more, not when his other Pokemon were here too (trainers needed to appear _strong_ for their Pokemon (of course, Riolu and Pikachu were kind of a different story— they’d been through some tough times together, when he wasn’t able to pull all his little pieces together and try to smile, even through the toughest of adversities))).

Lance, though, after freaking out, turned to Ash, looking worried (ugh), and walked up close to him, talking so the others couldn’t hear. “You said you’d keep yourself safe.”

“I _did._ It looks bad, but I promise I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. You look worse than after Hoenn and I _saw_ you break down after that— you tried to hide behind your friend Brock, but I saw it.”

“I’m not a little kid anymore. I’m fine. I have to be fine…so _fine,_ maybe I’m not exactly doing great right now, but I _will_ be fine once all this is over.”

Lance put his hands on Ash’s shoulders (and _why_ did Ash have to be _scared_ by that, why did Lance have to remind him of Lysandre, wild orange hair, towering over him) and Ash tried not to wince, but he did anyway, and Lance leaned even closer, serious. “Promise me, Ash, promise me, you’re gonna get _help_ after all this, whether it’s from your _parents_ or whatever over there, or your friends, or me, or even Cynthia— which, by the way, I’m still not over the fact you stayed the _summer_ at her villa but you didn’t even call me—or actual help from a therapist or something. Promise me, Ash.”

He looked down, then up, nodding. Yeah. He could do that.

At his affirmation, Lance looked immensely relieved, pulling back so Ash could address them all.

“Okay, everyone, thank you so much. We’re almost done— so close. The energy has been disabled. We just need to send the Nihilego back to Ultra Space, and bait the others back too.”

“How are we supposed to open a wormhole?”

“We scare them— with nothing anchoring them here, they should be pretty easy to push back into their own dimension.”

It would take some work, but that was okay.

Before he could think any longer, though, there was a roar and the bending of realities and Ash knew that sound too well by now. He didn’t even need to look to know who it was— Dialga and Palkia. The gods of time and space.

He did enjoy (only slightly) the reactions of the people around them. Lillie’d already seen it. Lance wasn’t as surprised as Ash thought he would be— maybe he’d already seen them. Cynthia looked straight to Ash. The rest of them had varying reactions but all nonetheless frightened and shocked. And Kukui…

Well, Ash would be surprised if he didn’t have a heart attack by the end of today.

They looked to the group, and to Giratina, who hovered by Ash protectively, and Pikachu, who was now okay enough to sit on his trainer’s shoulder (and rest heavily on his head). They looked, and looked, and Ash knew what they wanted to do. They wanted to help the humans (well, they wanted to get rid of the Nihilego, and the humans were going to do that, so they would help). Ash looked to all his friends and smiled. “They’re here to help! They can open a big wormhole and help get the Nihilego to go back to Ultra Space!”

They looked to him confusedly, but more so with respect to the great beasts. Dialga and Palkia looked to each other, their giant forms taking over the sky. The only blue left of the afternoon sky turned to a galaxy of black and purple marbled together underneath the smattering of stars, which speckled the eternal night as the sky split. The wormhole grew larger, and larger, and as it did, the humans and Pokemon everywhere watched with awe.

The ones on the beach, however, started taking out the Beast Balls and releasing the Nihilego, a little uncertainly. They hoped they wouldn’t still be hostile.

Hiss and pop, hiss and pop, hiss and pop, red light, red light, red light, the Nihilego materialized out of the balls one after another in crowds. The humans held their breath.

Finally, finally, they let it go as the Nihilego didn’t attack. They seemed calm, at the moment— there were a few that swooped, but at a roar from the gods, they calmed. The Nihilego hung there like children dressed as ghosts for Halloween, looking harmless and silent as they floated like a school of sleeping Tentacruel in the sea. It was a sharp contrast, this waxy, peaceful silence punctuated by a yawning sky to the screeching, screaming, attacking, predatory Ultra Beasts from before, moving through Giratina’s dark shadows like Greninja steeling their way through the night (like the charred beasts who guarded Lusamine against certain death by a lightning strike from the heavens).

Then, then, all the Nihilego started drifting to the wormhole, slowly, like Hopip on the breeze, like Drifblim in the sky, and they disappeared. It appeared a great migration, a great exodus— from Earth, back into their dimension. Soon, soon, all the ones caught in the Beast Balls were gone, like they’d never been there at all. The humans stood, in a soporific quietude, the beautifully morbid moment not quite passed.

The moment waned.

Finally, finally, one dared to move, and the moment was broken, and then they remembered— the rest of the Nihilego, still on the islands. Ash looked to the gods floating, still, in the sky, and he didn’t need to say anything— they knew. Palkia, the god of space, gave a great roar, and, like a lighthouse beam in a dark storm, Nihilego were drawn to it (like how they were drawn to the Ten Million Volt Thunderbolt in Ultra Space) from all across the islands, the rest in Melemele floating towards the wormhole, and, looking over the sea, he could see the speckles of white drifting closer.

In a little while, this would all be over.

They were so close.

Ash held tighter to Riolu, who’d migrated to his arms, and Pikachu, who leaned heavier on his head. They were all so exhausted, emotionally and physically spent, and he was really for it all to be over.

So close…

They stood for awhile, watching the Nihilego drift from far away, drifting, drifting, by the hundreds into the portal.

If only he’d known.

It was the calm before the storm.

There was a _screech,_ breaching the silence like a fire alarm, horrible and grating and ear-shattering like _screaming_ and dread filled him. He knew that sound. Sure, it was worse than before, but he knew.

He whipped around, as did they all. Oh no.

A giant _tower_ of Nihilego, stacked upon each other with others swirling around the pillar like a spiraling staircase was making its way toward them, moving fast, way too fast. (It reminded him too much of the Megalith, the way it towered over).

And then, at the top, the very top, as his eyes followed the pillar up and up and up, he saw it.

He saw _her._

The woman he’d murdered was merged with the Nihilego, even bigger than before, and she loomed, and she was alive.

She’d come back from death.

She was a dead woman walking— he’d _seen_ her die, there was no way she could have survived that explosion, because Ash _did not miss._ But here she was, regardless, looking _mad,_ a fire alight in her eyes that he could see even from all the way down here, and it was all too similar, all too close to _him._ Ash had seen Lysandre _commit suicide,_ throw himself off Prism Tower, as Greninja tried his damndest, his _damndest,_ to save the stupid, insane man’s life, but he was too late, and he watched the man _die._

Then he came back, he came back, somehow, a dead man walking, looking as close to death as one could be _(and he was dead!),_ looking like J with the wildfire in his eyes to match his wild orange hair. He’d stood, pushed off the edge, willing to murder everyone.

Lusamine was the same.

Ash was haunted by ghosts.

_How had she survived?_

She smiled, smiled so large, and it was directed straight at him, somehow, while everyone else around him gasped and sent out their Pokemon, ready to fight. Ash couldn’t move. She was _supposed to be dead._ He’d pushed those feelings to the side— the guilt, the anger, the disgust, and the _sick satisfaction_ that he’d _killed_ his friends’ mom, because he couldn’t deal with it, not now, not until everything was over, but he couldn’t push it to the side, not anymore, no, it was too late, because she’d been _resurrected,_ somehow, and there wasn’t a mark on her body.

She was _supposed_ to be dead.

Ash stood, pale, trembling, unmoving in the middle of the chaos as everyone rushed around him, starting to attack. Dialga and Palkia were closing the wormhole as fast as possible— they didn’t need any _more_ of the Nihilego coming to join the fight— this was enough of an impossible threat as it was. Ash couldn’t pay attention, really, to what anyone was doing, staring, horrified.

He registered, dimly, when the Nihilego started to attack. He also registered, barely, Pikachu pleading with him, refusing to join the fight before Ash was okay, and Riolu trying to reach into him with aura.

Nothing reached him.

_She was supposed to be dead._

He only looked away, slightly, when his arm _burned,_ and it was burning purple (a new burn covering the old one) and then he heard other people screaming, and then he realized, oh. All the Nihilego were attacking at once, and fat purple droplets hailed down in acid rain.

It hit him again, but he didn’t even move, and Pikachu took cover behind Ash’s head, as much as he could (the hat was long gone now). The acid burned. 

_She was supposed to be dead._

Suddenly, suddenly, though, the drops didn’t burn anymore— in fact, they weren’t even hitting his skin, and something blocked his view of the dead woman.

It was orange. His eyes moved, slowly, taking in the details of whatever it was as Pikachu squeaked happily, coming out from hiding. And finally, Ash saw.

It was _Charizard. His_ Charizard. His eyes cleared, with that, and he looked to his old friend uncertainly. “…Charizard? What? How…?”

He growled amicably at Ash. Liza had sent him to Alola because Ash needed help. 

The boy smiled. “Charizard, it’s— it’s so _good_ to see you! Thank you, for helping me. And for breaking me out of whatever that was. Now, let’s fight!”

Broken out of whatever that trance just was, Ash turned to the battle, finally changing positions for the first time. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder into a fighting stance, pumped up. So did Riolu. And then, and then, before he even began to battle, there was another loud chorus of sounds, all different, all familiar. His head whipped up.

It was _his_ Pokemon. Sceptile, Infernape, Krookodile, Bayleaf, Saraptor, Heracross, Torterra— and more. They ran to him in a stampede, and he was filled with so much giddy excitement Lusamine was put out of his mind (for a second). He cried out in joy just as they did, and they only barely stopped short of trampling him (good thing his Tauros weren’t there— they wouldn’t have stopped).

“You guys! How did you, all of you—?”

There was a clattering of answers, so many that he couldn’t make out their meaning until he was finally able to put together that Professor Oak had sent them over, and Tracy.

_Oh._ So they really _had_ stepped in to help him. That was good.

He shifted into leader mode. “Okay, everyone! Our goal is to destroy and defeat that tower of beasts— they’re called Nihilego! They know mainly poison and rock moves! Use your best strategies! Show me how strong you’ve gotten back at the ranch!”

A chorus of battle cries raged out as Ash’s friends from Alola (and the Champions) stopped in their fight, for just a moment, to gawk in amazement and disbelief. He only smiled at them.

He was _Ash Ketchum—_ future Pokemon Master. Lusamine was going to _lose._

The acid rain stopped, and some Nihilego branched off the tower, swooping down. Flames charred them to a crisp, razor-sharp leaves cut into their blubber, sand attacks whipped them around, charged power beams crashed into them, and water was weaponized against the rubbery creatures. They _screeched,_ but Ash no longer cringed. He _wouldn’t._

The tower was _here_ now, not in the distance but _here,_ and it was even more massive than Ash had thought. The Nihilego were clearly on the offensive, while he and his team were on the defensive. Time to change that.

He turned. “Hey, Charizard, think you can take us up to the very top? We need to take out the alpha— that’s Lusamine, the Mother Beast. She should be dead, but somehow she isn’t. Let’s change that.”

(This was not the time for _games_ anymore. Ash was not a vengeful person. He’d never kill someone intentionally.

But she should be dead.)

Charizard roared in agreement, changing position so that Ash and Pikachu could board. Ash turned to Riolu. “Hey. You can come with us if you want, but I can use my aura on my own now. What do you want to do?”

Riolu would rather stay down here—he’d be more use. Ash smiled. “Alright.”

Charizard started to fly up, but at Ash’s direction flew to the other side first. He flew close and then stopped. “Hey, Gladion!”

The teen turned to him. “We’re gonna go up and fight Lusamine. Wanna come? If we take her out, the Nihilego won’t have a leader anymore.”

He smiled, wryly, and Ash returned it as he boarded Charizard’s back. As they started the long flight up, Ash turned back. “Fair warning. Lusamine hates both of us and wants us dead. She thinks we, like, took Lillie away from her. She went psycho.”

He couldn’t hear the response as Charizard narrowly dodged some sort of projectile. A Flamethrower (a _powerful_ one, at that) was fired in response, and there was a screech of a Nihilego. Ash smiled.

Lusamine was going to _pay._

Charizard ascended the tower, flying at a near-vertical angle, spiraling around the Nihilego and dodging their attacks. From his back, Pikachu let out occasional Thunderbolts at their attackers. The wind rushed violently through Ash’s hair (making him miss his hat) and his face was set in a determined scowl. Gladion hung tightly to Charizard’s back.

Then they were there, almost there, and Ash got a better look at the dead woman. The Mother Beast was significantly larger than before, though the charred tentacles remained (Gladion noticed. Had… _Ash_ done that?) She was glowing purple and white, semi-translucent, rubbery, and altogether horrible to look at. As they approached, the Mother Beast turned her attention on the riders of the dragon, and Ash felt ice flow through his veins.

He pushed through.

Gladion felt fear as he looked into the empty eyes of his once-mother. Ever since last night, it was like…it was like he was a little kid again, like she had power over him all over again, like he hadn’t spent the last more-than-a-decade estranged from her. And that smile…

That smile. It was so inhuman. The Mother Beast could barely be recognized as once-human at all, at this point. With each passing moment, she merged closer with the beast, until the details blurred altogether and it was like when Ash couldn’t tell where he stopped and Greninja ended, but it was _ghastly_ and horrible and she looked like a broken puppet, smiling, always smiling.

Like a broken porcelain doll, tainted with poison.

Her eyes held venomous amusement— she wanted them dead, but she was willing to humor them.

Still, though, still, the Nihilego lined up in a wall (ceiling, really) above them and blocked them, sending down an acid rain directly on them, the spray burning. Pikachu cried out in pain and Ash covered him with his body, protecting him as much as he could. A volley of Dark Pulses from Gladion’s Umbreon dispersed the wall, their screeches like a dissonant melody on loop, horrible and grating. As their bodies fell from the sky and plummeted toward the ground, Charizard had to maneuver through the air to dodge.

“Okay, buddy, you ready to pull out the big guns?”

A roar was garnered in response, and Ash’s face resumed its determined and grim smile. “Let’s do this, then.”

Charizard sprung into action, accelerating straight up, hurtling toward the Mother Beast. Pikachu was in a battle stance on Charizard’s head, holding on tight, as Umbreon took a caboose position. Ash’s aura flared in his hands.

Bring it on, Lusamine.

At their attack, she growled, and vicious poison flew out of her tentacles, power built behind them as they concentrated into thorns, flying spikes through the air. One hit Charizard’s wing. It exploded on impact.

Umbreon’s Dark Pulse countered the poison thorns, exploding in a burst of shadows mixing with purple fire. Charizard’s Flamethrower burst out of his snout, flames licking at Ash’s face and hair as they hurtled through the air straight to the Mother Beast. Nihilego, caught in the crossfire, burned to ash. She screamed as her dome of a head caught on fire, burning, blubber rippling and filling the sky with a fetid smell, purple poisonous smoke from the mucus swirling through the air. Ash wielded his aura, as the blue glowed and melded into spikes to counter hers. They exploded in azure, absorbing and overpowering the purple thorns. It was a morbidly beautiful fireworks display and Ash found himself getting pumped up. All true battles were.

As balls of poison and multicolored beams were fired from her, Pikachu’s Electroweb burst out of him, catching the projectiles. The electric net was suspended in the air for a moment before hurtling to the ground hundreds of feet below, electricity crackling and dissolving against a blue sky.

Before Ash could launch another attack, he heard the heavens crack open and an _enormously destructive_ Draco Meteor _rain_ down, torrent of fire plummeting down from the heavens, turning the afternoon as orange as sunset as the sky filled with smoke. Blue turned to thick gray turned to smoky red, fire in the sky as the sun was swallowed whole.

Dialga and Palkia were working together, their attack power combined in a _literally_ Earth-shattering move— Ash could hear and feel, even from up here, as the Earth shook on impact with the explosives. If he looked down to his friends, he could see their small forms ducking for cover and he just prayed to whatever legendary liked him this week that they wouldn’t die.

Because Dialga and Palkia weren’t going to care.

How many had died already? (And why wasn’t Lusamine one of them?)

The Mother Beast screamed, a Nihilego-like screech rippling out of her throat, distorted and choked, as one landed _on her_ and exploded, and surely that was enough to kill her?

No. Of course not.

She _dove_ for the dragon riders, snarl on her face and bloodlust in her eyes and Charizard flapped furiously, dodging to the side as a _vicious_ Power Gem blasted out of her, red glow weaponized and sizzling with heat. Gladion yelled “Watch out! Dodging like this will only make her madder. We need to take her head on!”

Ash nodded. It occurred to him the other boy should know something. “Hey, Gladion. Um… I don’t plan on Lusamine coming out of this alive. Are you with me on that?”

There was hesitation, for just a moment, and Ash looked back to see a certain vulnerability in the other’s eyes as he was reminded of that night under the moon. Then, then, though, it hardened, and he nodded. “I plan the same. Let’s take her head on.”

A volley of Shadow Balls from Umbreon were combined with Pikachu’s Thunderbolt, electricity swirling around the spheres in an orbit, and as they crashed into the Mother Beast, ghost attack melded into electric. She froze, and _fear_ was on her face for a moment. She plummeted down, and it occurred to Ash. “She’s paralyzed! Charizard, down!”

As Charizard dove after her, he let out a Dragon Rage, vicious attack of sizzling energy moving in a blur, catching her as she fell through it. Ash sent a platform down as fast as he could, hoping she’d crash into it. She hurtled to the ground, faster and faster, before _splatting_ on the invisible platform, and he didn’t like the sick _squelch_ it made.

But Ash didn’t have the time to think about that any longer, because a Nihilego _charged_ from the side, and he didn’t see it, but it was too late, because it knocked him off Charizard’s side faster than he could think, and suddenly _he_ was hurtling toward the ground, and Gladion cried out for him, reaching to grab him, but didn’t have enough strength, and instead he was pulled down too, so Ash and Gladion plummeted down to the Earth, as it raced toward them, and _they_ were about to go _splat._

The ground hurtled ever closer, and Ash had enough time to reflect on the familiarity of this situation— he’d fallen to certain death _way_ too many times— in Shamouti, after the Aerodactyl, in the Tree of Beginning, in Molly’s crystal castle— he’d lost count.

Maybe even more times than he’d drowned.

Ash let out a bitter laugh and was ready to die, just as he always was. The wind rushed by his hair, and his ears, whistling so loud and shrill it matched the ringing after the shockwave earlier. He found himself glancing at Gladion, falling beside him, who looked terrified (for good reason. Here Ash was, laughing his ass off now, with barely enough air to do so, because it really all was so _fucking_ funny, and if he was going to die, he was going to die smiling, and hey, maybe Lusamine actually got her goal, because they were both going to die.)

Somehow, somehow, through the whistling of the wind, Ash heard the horrified yell of Professor Kukui and his friends, couldn’t really bring himself to care except about the fact that if they were that close to the ground they were seconds away from dying.

_Goodbye, Pikachu._

His only regret.

But, but, they weren’t falling anymore, both stopped from moving so quickly it felt as though he _had_ been crushed. He opened his eyes, after a minute, and it was _Charizard_ who’d saved him, just like back in Molly’s castle, and Gladion was next to him too, and the poor guy had probably never fallen to his near-death before, and Ash knew how _he_ was the first time— terrified out of his mind and on the verge of a panic attack.

He couldn’t bring himself to speak, though, didn’t have the air to do so, so he just looked sympathetically at the other boy and hoped that was enough.

They were dropped roughly on the ground as Charizard took a tumble to the side— it must have been really hard to handle that momentum. 

Ash was on the sand, now, he realized, as it dug into his hair, and then Pikachu was on his face and he was crying and licking his cheeks all over, and despite himself, Ash was laughing again, even though he was half-unconscious from the oxygen-loss, but Gladion was worse beside him, and then Lillie was at her brother’s side, and it was all too much for Ash as he looked away from Kukui, who’d rushed to his side, instead looking back— way up in the sky.

Lusamine was still there, on the platform, squished.

But, as he watched, as Ash’s power gave out, the platform dissolved, and the Mother Beast shook herself off and floated up.

Dang. They needed to kill her. Then the rest of the Nihilego would fall away.

He pushed himself to a sitting position, even though it hurt (the pain was starting to kick in, now), and looked around. The beach looked like a war zone, sand ripped around, black ash on the ground. If he looked a little closer at his friends, they were burned.

Right. The Draco Meteor.

None of them were dead, _thankfully,_ because he wouldn’t put it past the legendaries to unintentionally kill a human. They’d certainly done so before ( _his_ deaths didn’t really count, but there’d been Kalos.)

He looked down at himself for the first time, really, since the Lusamine fight. There were burns on his burns, skin singed from the Ultra Aura, from the fire, and from the acid— all different. It was all blotched purple and red and raw, and there was dried blood all over (the glass, he realized, when he saw the inflamed lines.) Everything was noticed with a sort of detachment, but he guessed that was how he always was in these sorts of circumstances, so removed from his own injuries because there were only two goals. To win, and to save everyone.

He was going to do his _best_ to do both, if he could (even though he’d certainly already failed in the second. (This wasn’t the sort of scenario when he shrugged and said _you can’t win em’ all._ That was what he did after he lost a battle. No. He _had_ to win em’ all, here, when people’s _lives_ were at stake. He’d already failed once, and now again.

Lusamine was going to _pay._ ))

Lillie helped Gladion up as Ash’s Bayleef ran up to him, baying ardently and concerned (he crossed his fingers that she wouldn’t head butt him. Sure, he was resilient, but if he could avoid the pain it would be appreciated.) She slowed, though, as she neared him, more gentle than she’d ever been before, leaning down and nosing him earnestly, carefully, lovingly murmuring at him. “Hey, hey, Bayleef,” he started, patience and fondness filling his voice, “I’m okay. Don’t worry about me— you’ve seen me come through worse, haven’t you?”

A sweet smell erupted from her, and he smiled. She’d been working on her Aromatherapy on Professor Oak’s ranch, clearly. He felt more rejuvenated smelling it, and his Pokemon helped him pull himself to his feet (he ignored his stumble). Once he was up, Lillie turned to him— Gladion was in battle again already. Shit, why couldn’t Ash do the same? Why did he still feel so weak?

She introduced herself to Bayleef, and, after a moment, noticed as Ash stared at the Mother Beast above. “Hey, Ash,” she began, patient, “how are you doing after your battle with her? Did something happen?”

After a moment, she continued, stumbling over her words. “I mean, obviously other than falling from the sky! Are you alright after that, too?”

Ash finally looked at her. “Yeah, that’s nothing, I’ve done that a lot. But…”

He looked away from her. “When I battled her…I created an explosion that should have killed her.” He'd told her about the dome of dangerous aura that he’d trapped her in, how it had turned black and he’d imploded it in on her. He'd told her she was dead, but now she wasn't, and it was fucking him up.

“ _How_ did she survive that?”

Lillie looked quiet, pensive. Disturbed, too, because it _was_ her mom, even if she hated her. After a long moment, she suggested. “Maybe, when the aura turned black and you couldn’t see her anymore, she created a wormhole and escaped?”

Oh. Yeah, that made sense. He felt stupid, now.

She wasn’t like Lysandre. She’d never died in the first place.

Lille smiled a little at his response (though not a lot. This was all too morbid) and bumped his shoulder fondly, the way he always did to her. A show of support, of friendship. _I’ve got your back._

After a moment longer, Ash turned to her, vulnerable again. “Wait, Lillie, I just—you should know. We’re going to try to defeat her— for good. I don’t know if I’ll be able to— I don’t think I’ll even try to get her out alive. Are you— are you alright with that?”

Her eyes widened, and Ash felt immediately guilty, because of _course_ it wasn’t alright—

“Honestly,” she began, and his heart stopped, “I don’t know if I am. I don’t know how to feel about her, and obviously I’m so against killing anyone. I don’t want her to die. I thought she had before, and I had accepted it. But…”

She looked away from him, the eye contact too hard to handle. “…if that’s what it has to be, that’s what it has to be. Just…don’t _try_ to kill her intentionally. Please, for me, try to keep her alive. I don’t care if she suffers or rots in jail the rest of her life— in fact, she _should—_ but don’t kill her.”

Ash’s eyes pierced hers, and they held it. He wouldn’t go out of his way to save her life, or even spare it— not if it would hinder their mission— but he wouldn’t kill Lusamine. He cared about Lillie more than that. “I’ll do my best,” was all he could offer her.

“Thank you, Ash.”

Feeling a little more strong in his step, he tried to take a step independent from Bayleef. The second he did, however, he got a mouth full of sand and the grains dug into his skin, and, oh.

He couldn’t get up. At all.

His muscles weren’t moving, no matter how much determination he had, and this was stupid, because _why wouldn’t his body listen to him,_ but it wasn’t, and Lillie was at his side, calling for help. Gladion, who was still nearby, rushed over, and Bayleef tried to help him too, but even with all their help his legs were like jelly and he couldn’t even move them.

The battle was still raging on and he _needed to get back in there,_ and he willed something to happen, anything, _Arceus better do something because he needed Ash’s help to save the world so he should at least make sure Ash could actually do it._

Tapu Koko swooped down when he saw what was happening, cooing worriedly at Ash. He hovered, face to face with them for a moment, before flying up and calling, lightning bouncing off his body.

After a moment, Tapu Lele was there. The two guardians hung next to each other, communicating, before Lele looked down at Ash, understanding.

Everyone backed away.

Tapu Lele started her strange song before iridescent scales floated down from her, sparkling and reflecting the light of rainbows unseen. They fluttered down through the air like Ho-oh feathers, glistening dust raining down over his head.

It took a moment, before he could _feel_ his energy replenishing, his wounds receding in their pain (even a legendary’s blessing wasn’t going to heal them all, but.) Breathing came easy again, no longer like suffocating, and when he tried to stand he found he could.

He didn’t stumble.

He thanked the guardian deity, and she cooed with delight at his show of gratitude (who knew what she would’ve done if he hadn’t shown the proper appreciation, known for mischief and chaos as she was).

Lillie turned to him. “Are you alright now, Ash?” There was awe in her voice, because how could there _not_ be, watching that beautifully divine a display?

He smiled, nodding, and he called to Pikachu. “Hey! Get ready for round two, buddy.”

“Pika!”

Was the response, as the yellow mouse hopped onto Ash’s shoulder. Staraptor, too, heard his call, and came flocking to him. “You wanna come too?”

A squawk confirmed it, and Ash smiled. “Awesome. That way, Pikachu can attack from your back and we’ll have some extra power!”

He turned to the side. Charizard was still pretty beat, but he looked like he could still fly. Just maybe not with Ash on his back. So, instead, he turned back, ignoring the sounds of battle, the yells and the screams and battle cries and screeches, to the enormous beast fighting with all he had (the absolute _firepower_ this thing had!)

“Giratina! You wanna help us fight Lusamine?”

In response, the legendary swooped to his side, ready for a rider, and Ash, Pikachu, and Staraptor hopped on. He called to Charizard, too, who readied his wings to fly. “Let’s go, everyone.”

Up and up into the sky, again (this time, he held on extra tight, refusing to be knocked off like last time. Pikachu’s claws dug into his shoulder, into his hair. He barely noticed.)

Nihilego flew at them from the side, and Charizard’s flames took down most of them, the rest being taken out by Giratina’s shadows. They cut through the sky like throwing knives, as dangerous and sharp. Ash saved his own power, readying it for once they reached the top.

Finally, finally, they were back up to the madwoman, her Parasite form clearly damaged, but she was _still going strong._ Not for long. He was going to _destroy this bitch._

“We need to take out the leader! Strike as many Nihilego as you can, too!”

Pikachu flew on Staraptor’s back to get closer to the Mother Beast, flying around her, both of them attacking (a distraction, really, so she wouldn’t shoot them out of the sky). A Flamethrower hurtled fire at her, and that horrible smell of burning rubber filled the air again, hot and foul. Giratina’s Ancient Power launched, white energy concentrated and sizzling. It spread, like a Draco Meteor, and launched into the Mother Beast as well as the surrounding Nihilego. They screeched, and fell. Ash’s vision was suddenly dark as shadows surrounded Giratina and his riders, acting as a shield against the poison acid and toxic spikes fired at them.

When the shadow shield came down, directly on the other side of it was the Mother Beast, snarling and _angry,_ and Ash could _see_ the fury coming off of her in waves, vitriol spitting out in harsh words, and flames from Charizard covered his back and she attacked faster than he could react. Giratina flew back, away from her, and she chased after, and the god wove in circles through the sky, zigging and zagging, turning back to attack her as she chased, going in for the kill. She _screamed_ in fury, and somehow that was a command in the hive mind, because then _every single Nihilego_ turned to Ash on Giratina’s back. And they _all_ attacked at once, and Ash _threw_ up a bubble to protect them while Giratina threw up a bigger shadow attack, and all was dark as they _heard_ the attacks pelt the barriers.

That would’ve killed him, for sure. He strengthened the shield (and _Arceus,_ this was _too_ similar to J, it really was) before he heard Pikachu letting out a war cry and smelled burnt ozone in the air as the flash of white broke through even the impenetrable shadows.

Ash smiled. He _pushed_ it all out, exploding like an angered Voltorb, and when he could see again the Nihilego weren’t attacking anymore. Lusamine was directly above them, murder in her gaze, and Ash turned to Pikachu. “Hey, buddy, this is our chance! Are you ready?”

And his best friend, his _best_ friend, knew exactly what he was talking about. Ash felt electricity flow out of Pikachu’s cheeks like water, felt aura flow out of his heart in the same way. It was _really_ time for round two— a repeat of the first time they’d faced her.

He looked down at his wrist. The Z-ring was changing before his eyes, and a glance at a passing Tapu Koko showed him why.

Perfect.

As Ash closed his eyes, it pooled in his stomach, hot like fire, before it flowed to his hands, out through every pore in his body. A glance at Pikachu, still on Staraptor’s back, found him in a similar position— two bolts arced out of his cheeks, joining together in one big one, crackling bigger with every second, growing, growing, growing, small static zaps branching out to hit the Nihilego. Ash could _feel_ Pikachu, could feel the energy light strings bonding their hearts together, and it grew brighter, brighter still, as Ash let it flow out of his hands to join the bolt, as the two energies swirled together into a funnel, just like before, just like before, but bigger and brighter and blinding even in the light of day.

It felt like the sun itself on his skin. He didn’t even feel as the intensity started to burn. The funnel swirled like a whirlpool, like a tornado of mixed energies, engulfing any surrounding Nihilego, and he didn’t blink as they were incinerated, their sickly banshee screams cut off mid-squeal. (Ugh. They were annoying even in death.)

Giratina, even though he was powerful and could probably wipe out the Mother Beast if she just _stayed still,_ refrained from attacking, knowing that this was Ash and Pikachu’s moment.

Their heartbeats joined in tandem, as the funnel grew brighter still, and concentrated into a ball of ever-moving, twisting, burning, glowing energy. As the sphere grew, both of them pouring their hearts into it, Lusamine flew close, _too_ close. As Pikachu _leaped_ off of Staraptor’s back, staying suspended in the air, and as the sphere _burst_ into a million different colors, the glow was reflected in her sharp eyes and they gleamed with recognition. 

She recognized this move.

Good.

“Much stronger than a regular Thunderbolt,” Ash’s voice bellowed through the air, “ _Ten Million Volt Thunderbolt!”_

Before it launched, before it launched, he looked at her eyes once more, and.

And, and, and.

And.

It wasn’t Lusamine.

It was Hunter J.

She knew she was going to die. She knew it, she knew it, and she didn’t care one bit.

She was _relishing it._ (Just like Cyrus, who was suicidal, and just like Lysandre, who threw himself, smiling, off the edge of a building and _lived.)_

It was the moment before her death, and she had accepted it, but she was going to go out burning brighter than any star.

She was _crazy._ She was _manic._ Her eyes, like a forest fire, like an explosion, like a Hyper Beam, were hungry and wild, untamed.

Inhuman.

They were all the same. All the same. All the same.

Time resumed in a flash of light as Pikachu _let it loose._

And he didn’t tear his eyes away from hers, he didn’t, he couldn’t, and in the millisecond before her death, he remembered.

Lillie.

The energy _boomed_ in a rainbow menagerie of chartreuse and gold and scarlet and vermillion and cerulean and emerald and, like gemstones flying through the air, reflected the light of the sun and the stars and all the lightning in the universe.

_Wait!_

He thought, urgently, because it was going to be too late.

But it wasn’t. It wasn’t, because he and Pikachu were connected, and this was just as much his move as it was his best friend’s.

He pulled it back, he pulled it all back, as much as he could, and Pikachu tried to as well. 

It wasn’t enough.

It still exploded, exploded, as the world turned to flames that encompassed him, as Pikachu fell twenty feet into his arms and the world was all orange and blue and white and then black and then he was back on the beach again and he wasn’t sure what had happened. When he could finally open his eyes again, and there was no more tower, there was no more Nihilego, there was no more battle. He couldn’t see Lusamine.

_He couldn’t see Lusamine._

Had he killed her? Was he not fast enough? Was she dead?

Was he really a murderer?

Everything was blurry. There were people by him, maybe, too many people, too many— all of them were hovering over him, and he was on the sand again, and Pikachu was still in his arms and he clung to them, but all of them were blocking his vision and he couldn’t see if Lusamine was there or not, if she was alive or dead because suddenly, suddenly, he wanted nothing more than for her to be alive.

He couldn’t let Lillie down.

He couldn’t kill her mother.

He couldn’t render her an orphan.

For all he’d wanted to kill the demonic woman, he didn’t want her dead now.

_Please, Arceus (_ or whatever legendary wasn’t busy ignoring him or wreaking havoc on the Earth) _let her be alive._

Suddenly, suddenly, he could make out their faces, and he could see Lillie, he could see Lillie, and he looked at her pleadingly. 

He couldn’t speak.

He fought to sit up, fought to stand, ignored the startled cries and protests of everyone (didn’t they _understand?_ What if he was a _murderer?)_

He fought to look around, wildly, searching, and searching, and searching.

Where was she?

Lillie was at his side before any of the others, and then she was holding his face (and why was she wet? Why were his cheeks wet?) and why couldn’t he breathe?

“Stop panicking, Ash! Breathe, breathe, you’re having a panic attack!”

What? He was fine.

He fought, fought through the suffocation, through the choking, to desperately ask “Where is she? Is she dead? Did I kill her?”

Her smile turned sympathetic. She put her hands on his shoulders (it made him shiver) and turned him, gently, to the side. 

And there, and there, was Lusamine, prone, human again, asleep (or dead) on the destroyed beach.

“She’s alive, Ash.”

_She was alive._

_He hadn’t killed her._

_He wasn’t a murderer._

(Though wasn’t it his fault that Cyrus was dead now, wasn’t it his fault that Lysandre threw himself off, wasn’t it all his fault because the fate of the world rested on his shoulders and he couldn’t afford to make a single mistake because there were _lives_ at stake and people had already died?

Wasn’t it his fault?

_No._

It wasn’t.)

“She’s alive?”

“Yes, Ash she’s alive!” She cast an enervated glance back at the body, and looked back to him. “Thank you, Ash, for…not killing her. I— understand how easy it would be to, but I didn’t want her to die. We shouldn’t add more death to everything else today.”

Ash was silent. “And we’re the good guys, right? Sometimes we have to choose the harder things.”

The good guys. Right.

The good guys didn’t kill people.

Right?

He looked away from Lillie and to everyone else, who hung back, maybe not really knowing but sensing the weight and importance of their hushed conversation. But, as he looked back to them, he was suddenly just as exhausted as before and his stupid legs were barely working, and he kept himself from buckling, but just barely.

It was enough for the rest of them to notice, though, and he was swamped once again by everyone— all the humans and all his Pokemon, who trampled on through and surrounded him, and he was suffocated but it was a good kind of suffocation, warm and welcome and exactly what he needed.

This felt like after he’d come back to life in the Tree of Beginning, when Mew had almost sacrificed their life to save the humans (where Lucario _had_ then died).

They piled on him, and then he couldn’t hold himself anymore, and they were crushing him, but it was fine because he was laughing. He couldn’t see it, but even though the overwhelming happiness and concern of his Pokemon, he could feel confusion from his friends, and relief from them as well, and exhaustion, and fondness, and this time, this time, he really was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so this is the end of the climax. We have one more chapter to go. Please let me know what you think if you wanna scream at me or cry or whatever I am here for it. Thanks to everyone for reading and coming with me this far.
> 
> Also I got really really excited about the battle scenes in this chapter idk about you

**Author's Note:**

> Please give me feedback! If you have any ideas or anything you want to say, feel free to let me know!


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